Avian influenza H5N1 is a type A bird flu virus, typically, it does not infect people. Human infections have most often happened after close or lengthy unprotected contact with infected birds. The spread of bird flu viruses from one infected person to a close contact is very rare. Six main hemagglutinin (HA) subtypes of bird flu viruses have infected people to cause acute respiratory illness. Among these, H5N1 and H7N9 viruses have caused the majority of infections. The first description of avian influenza dates to 1878 in northern Italy. In 1997 the first human case related to the H5N1 virus...
ruth
Are food outbreaks and recalls rising? It apper as if we hear about new outbreaks very frequently
There has been a barrage of bad news about food safety lately. Ten people died after eating Boar’s Head deli meat connected to a Listeria monocytogenes outbreak and dozens were hospitalized. An E. coli outbreak linked to onions served on McDonald’s Quarter Pounders. A massive egg recall that thickened 93 people with 34 hospitalizations and a large outbreak attributed to Salmonella Typhimurium cucumbers with 100 people sickened. The recalls came one after the other and dominated the news. Data from the CDC shows that the number of outbreaks has increased from last year, but not by much. When a food...