![\"Dairy](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.animals24-7.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/Picsart_25-02-06_21-44-04-548-e1738907087578.jpg?ssl=1\")
<\/a><\/p>\n(Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n BALDWYN, Mississippi;\u00a0\u00a0 WASHINGTON, D.C.\u2013\u2013<\/strong>For the second time in two weeks Showing Animals Respect & Kindness is appealing for calls to Lee County,\u00a0 Mississippi sheriff Jim Johnson,\u00a0 asking Johnson to stop an alleged scheduled cockfight,\u00a0 but this time\u2013\u2013because of the increasing likelihood of the H5N1 avian flu spreading into humans\u2013\u2013the stakes appear to be much higher than the cost to the fighting roosters and the stack of money wagered at the pit.<\/p>\n \u201cWe understand that an illegal cockfight is planned for the D.L. Parker home in Mississippi this Saturday, \u00a0during the day. We are hoping to keep it from happening again,\u201d\u00a0 Showing Animals Respect & Kindness emailed to supporters.<\/p>\n \u201cWe will check out his home, \u00a0the pit, \u00a0and the surrounding areas for any illegal activities,\u201d\u00a0 Showing Animals Respect & Kindness pledged.<\/p>\n (Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cThank you as always for your continued support, \u00a0and we will let you know what we find.\u201d<\/p>\n A cockfight scheduled for January 25,\u00a0 2025 at the D.L. Parker cockpit near Baldwyn,\u00a0 Mississippi was cancelled,\u00a0 Showing Animals Respect & Kindness founder Steve Hindi told ANIMALS 24-7<\/strong>,\u00a0 after a similar campaign to pressure Sheriff Johnson into enforcing the law.<\/p>\n (See SHARK alert led to bust of cockfighter now charged with triple murder<\/a>.)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Hindi did not mention the Animal & Plant Health Inspection Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture [USDA-APHIS],\u00a0 which has jurisdiction over both enforcing the federal Animal Welfare Act prohibition of cockfighting and combatting H5N1.<\/p>\n Transportation of gamefowl in connection with cockfighting ranks second only to wild waterfowl migration as a vector for spreading H5N1 to domestic poultry,\u00a0 cattle,\u00a0 cats,\u00a0 and humans,\u00a0 among the most commonly infected of many other species know to be vulnerable to it.<\/p>\n (Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Meanwhile an understated February 5,\u00a0 2025 announcement from USDA-APHIS belatedly acknowledged that,\u00a0 \u201cOn January 31, \u00a02025, \u00a0the National Veterinary Services Laboratories confirmed by whole genome sequence the first detection of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1 clade 2.3.4.4b, genotype D1.1 in dairy cattle.\u201d<\/p>\n Translation:\u00a0 the risk of H5N1 jumping into a form transmissible from human to human just got worse,\u00a0 after causing the deaths of nearly 150 million poultry over the past three years.<\/p>\n \u201cAll previous detections in dairy cattle have been HPAI H5N1 clade 2.3.4.4b, \u00a0genotype B3.13,\u201d\u00a0 USDA-APHIS acknowledged, \u00a0hiding the real news in jargon.<\/p>\n \u201cGenotype D1.1 represents the predominant genotype in the North American flyways this past fall and winter and has been identified in wild birds, \u00a0mammals, \u00a0and spillovers into domestic poultry,\u00a0 USDA-APHIS said.<\/p>\n (Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Though this is now the second H5N1 strain to mutate to infect dairy cows,\u00a0 \u201cThe detection does not change\u00a0USDA\u2019s HPAI eradication strategy,\u201d\u00a0 which forgoes vaccination in favor of attempting to \u201cstamp out\u201d H5N1 by killing all poultry from infected flocks,\u201d\u00a0 USDA-APHIS continued,\u00a0 \u201cand is a testament to the strength of our National Milk Testing Strategy.\u201d<\/p>\n Alexander Tin and Jordan Freiman of CBS News promptly updated the bad news from USDA-APHIS with the worse news that USDA-APHIS under Donald Trump administration control apparently tried to suppress.<\/p>\n \u201cThat bird flu strain, \u00a0called D1.1 by scientists, \u00a0was also linked to a fatal human case in Louisiana last year after exposure to sick birds,\u201d\u00a0 Tin narrated.\u00a0 \u201cSymptoms seen in humans infected by D1.1 have been more severe than the previous bird flu strain that has been spreading in cows.\u201d<\/p>\n (See Biggest Kentucky cockfighting bust upstaged by first U.S. death from \u201cbird flu\u201d<\/a>.)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n (Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n USDA-APHIS has not released the identity of the Louisiana victim.<\/p>\n The Louisiana Department of Health announced the death on January 6,\u00a0 2025.<\/p>\n \u201cThe patient was over the age of 65,\u201d\u00a0 \u00a0the Louisiana Department of Health said then,\u00a0 \u201cand was reported to have underlying medical conditions,\u201d\u00a0 but also offered nothing specific about the victim\u2019s identity.<\/p>\n \u201cThe patient contracted H5N1 after exposure to a combination of a non-commercial backyard flock and wild birds,\u201d\u00a0 the Louisiana Department of Health continued.<\/p>\n Left unclear was whether the victim was simply someone who kept backyard hens or pet ducks,\u00a0 or was a cockfighter.<\/p>\n \u201cNon-commercial backyard flock\u201d is a frequent euphemism used among public health personnel to describe the facilities of cockfighters and gamefowl breeders,\u00a0 to avoid disclosing the identities and pastimes of people whose cooperation is needed to trace disease outbreaks to source.<\/p>\n (Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Resumed Tin for CBS News,\u00a0 \u201cThe discovery of the D1.1 bird flu strain’s spread in cows upends previous theories floated by U.S. health and agriculture officials that the spillover of the virus into cows from wild birds was a rare,\u00a0 one-off event. \u00a0All cases of bird flu in cows since a spillover in The Centers for Disease Control & Prevention meanwhile on February 6,\u00a0 2025 resumed publishing the weekly Morbidity & Mortality Weekly Report<\/em> after an unprecedented two-week pause in publishing ordered by Donald Trump soon after his January 20,\u00a0 2025 inauguration, \u00a0\u201cbut information about the bird flu virus that was supposed to appear remained on hold even as the outbreak spreads,\u201d\u00a0 the Washington Post<\/em> reported.<\/p>\n (Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cThree studies about the H5N1 bird flu virus were scheduled to be released in the weekly Morbidity & Mortality Weekly Report<\/em> on January 23, \u00a02025,\u201d\u00a0 the Washington Post<\/em> said,\u00a0 \u201caccording to multiple CDC officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity out of fear of retaliation. \u00a0But release of the results was abruptly halted when the Trump administration instructed federal health agencies to pause all external communications on January 21, \u00a02025,\u00a0 the administration\u2019s first full day in office.\u201d<\/p>\n (See \u201cGetting ducks in a row,\u201d Trump team silences agencies about H5N1<\/a>.)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cDuring his first term,\u201d\u00a0 the Washington Post<\/em> remembered,\u00a0 \u201cDonald Trump\u2019s political appointees tried to gain control over the weekly Morbidity & Mortality Weekly Report<\/em>, \u00a0which had published information about the coronavirus pandemic that conflicted with messaging from the White House,\u201d\u00a0 specifically by repeatedly revealing the soaring COVID-19 death toll while Trump insisted the pandemic was under control.<\/p>\n (Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cOne of the [suppressed] bird flu studies is aimed at whether cattle veterinarians have been unknowingly infected with the H5N1 avian influenza that has sickened hundreds of dairy cow herds in 16 states,\u201d\u00a0 the Washington Post<\/em> reported.\u00a0 \u201cSince the virus was first confirmed in dairy cows last spring, agriculture and health officials have been trying to better understand how the pathogen infects humans.<\/p>\n \u201cWhile federal health officials say the risk from bird flu remains low for most people, \u00a0the risk is higher for those who have more direct contact with sick animals, \u00a0including farm workers, veterinarians, \u00a0animal care workers and staff at public health departments, \u00a0the CDC has said.<\/p>\n Merritt & Beth Clifton with Henry the rooster.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cThe study involving cattle vets tested the blood of 150 veterinarians who had treated cattle to look for indicators that they may have had previous infections,\u201d\u00a0 the Washington Post<\/em> added,\u00a0 citing a previously published description of the CDC methodology.<\/p>\n The post Again SHARK tries to stop a cockfight as new H5N1 strain hits dairy cows<\/a> appeared first on Animals 24-7<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" (Beth Clifton collage) Trump administration meanwhile continues to suppress H5N1 updates BALDWYN, Mississippi;\u00a0\u00a0 WASHINGTON, D.C.\u2013\u2013For the second time in two weeks Showing Animals Respect & Kindness is appealing for calls to Lee County,\u00a0 Mississippi sheriff Jim Johnson,\u00a0 asking Johnson to stop an alleged scheduled cockfight,\u00a0 but this time\u2013\u2013because of the increasing likelihood of the H5N1 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":76424,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12022],"tags":[39092,22862,16707,13149,15047,7981,1403,37301],"dealstore":[],"offerexpiration":[],"class_list":["post-76423","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-activist","tag-cockfight","tag-cows","tag-dairy","tag-h5n1","tag-hits","tag-shark","tag-stop","tag-strain"],"yoast_head":"\nTrump administration meanwhile continues to suppress H5N1 updates<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nSHARK “will let you know what we find,”\u00a0 but where is USDA-APHIS?<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nA second strain of H5N1 hits dairy cattle<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nCBS News revealed what USDA-APHIS did not<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nOfficial silence about identity of Louisiana victim<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nUSDA-APHIS reassurances were wrong<\/h2>\n
\nTexas in late 2023 had previously been linked only to [H5N1 variant] B3.13, \u00a0which officials have cited as evidence that new variants of the virus were not repeatedly spreading into cows from birds.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\nCDC withholds three H5N1 studies<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nTested the blood of 150 cattle veterinarians<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nPlease donate to support our work:<\/strong><\/h2>\n
www.animals24-7.org\/donate\/<\/a><\/strong><\/h2>\n