Norway's IPH on Bird Flu: No Fear, Don't Panic
Public health officialdom is baaaack with a 'one health™'-guided risk assessment
Oh, my, with summer upon us here up north—Sweden is reportedly to experience a ‘heat wave’ of, believe it or not, up to 31 degrees Celsius (‘the Experts™’ recommend elevated water intake')—Norway’s Institute of Public Health (IPH) has published a risk assessment about bird flu.
Entitled ‘Risk of highly pathogenic avian influenza (H5N1) in dairy cows in the USA 2024: Public health assessments in a one-health perspective’, I thought it might be of interest to those outside Norway. The original report is linked (it’s in Norwegian), but since even Donald Trump aspires American schools to be ‘more like Norwegian ones’ (i.e., socialist), this is as good a time as any to offer this point of view.
One last thing to mention: there is also a press release, which I’ll translate below, and I’ll read through the risk assessment (published on 24 June 2024) and get back to you tomorrow.
As always, translation and emphases mine, as are the bottom lines.
Risk Assessment Concerning the Avian Influenza Outbreak Among Dairy Cows in the USA
Via the Norwegian Institute of Public Health, 24 June 2024 [source]
At the end of March 2024, an outbreak of avian influenza (H5N1) was detected in dairy cows in the United States. The outbreak is still ongoing. This is the first time an outbreak of avian influenza has been detected in cows, and no outbreaks have been seen outside the US. Three people have been infected after direct contact with sick cows and have developed only mild symptoms. Although this situation increases the risk that the virus may develop into a better transmission to and between humans, IPH nevertheless assesses this risk as low in our latest risk assessment.
The avian influenza virus is still poorly suited to infecting humans
IPH believes that the outbreak virus in the USA is different from the avian influenza viruses we have seen in Norway, but it has not acquired the properties needed to be effectively transmitted between humans. The virus is still best adapted to birds and infects the organs of cows, which are also susceptible to such influenza viruses from birds.
Sporadic cases of human infection following exposure to sick animals are not unexpected. There are no signs of human-to-human transmission.
Are Stuwitz Berg, Acting Director of Infection Control at the IPH
As of 24 June 2024, three people in the US have been diagnosed with an infection in connection with the outbreak, following contact with sick cows. The first two had conjunctivitis as their only symptom, while the third had mild respiratory symptoms in addition to eye problems. These are the first documented cases of avian influenza transmission from mammals to humans. There is no evidence of human-to-human transmission.
The Norwegian Food Safety Authority [orig. Mattilsynet] does not suspect avian influenza in cattle in Norway, and there is no evidence of similar outbreaks in cattle outside the USA. The risk of the virus spreading from the USA to cattle in Norway is also considered minimal.
Very low risk of infection to humans in Norway and travellers to the USA
‘The NIPH considers the risk of the current situation in the USA leading to infection of humans in Norway or Norwegian travellers to the USA to be very low’, says Are Stuwitz Berg.
IPH is monitoring the situation closely
There is reason to keep a close eye on the development of this outbreak. Persistent infection between mammals increases the risk of the virus developing into a better infection to and between humans, and ultimately leading to an outbreak in humans. However, we consider the risk of this to be low at present.
Are Stuwitz Berg.
Vigilance against bird flu infection
Preparedness for avian influenza requires co-operation across agencies and sectors on the animal and human side. The IPH therefore works closely with the Norwegian Veterinary Institute, the Norwegian Food Safety Authority and the Norwegian Directorate of Health.
The situation in the USA, as well as the global situation with avian influenza, is a reminder of the need for good surveillance and preparedness and the need for increased and more systematic work on zoonotic influenza (influenza that is transmitted between animals and humans) in the future.
Vigilance at all levels is important in order to detect any cases early. People who have been in contact with sick/dead animals and who develop symptoms afterwards should be tested for influenza. Cases of influenza in humans that cannot be categorised as ordinary influenza should be routinely sent to the NIPH throughout the summer for further investigation.
About the outbreak of avian influenza
Since the autumn of 2020 [what a coincidence], there has been widespread spread of highly pathogenic avian influenza in birds in Europe and other parts of the world. The virus (H5N1) was first detected in wild birds in Norway in autumn 2020. Since then, it has spread among wild birds across large parts of the country, leading to outbreaks in several poultry farms. There has been no evidence of infection with avian influenza virus to humans in Norway.
The avian influenza virus (H5N1) has also caused illness in various carnivores and marine mammals in different parts of the world. Outbreaks in cattle were first detected in connection with the ongoing outbreak in dairy cows in the USA, in March 2024. Three people have been infected in the outbreak after contact with sick cows.
Bottom Lines
Fear being the mind-killer par excellence, public health and big pharma scaremongers are at ‘it’ again. While I won’t claim any specifics pending reading the ‘risk assessment’, it already says on the cover ‘a one health perspective’.
This ‘One Health™’ view is, in my view, a thinly veiled threat: everything and everyone shall be ‘tested’, no matter the presentation of clinical symptoms (if any); public health officials will, not unlike Covid, simply follow ‘guidelines’ and forward said ‘recommendations’ to practitioners.
The art and science of medicine is no longer. In the US and in Europe, the massive decline of private practices precipitated a chain of dependence on insurance companies and administrators at different, higher levels.
In Europe, this isn’t as obvious due to larger gov’t-owned ‘healthcare™’ sectors, but in the final analysis, it doesn’t matter if ‘standards of care’ are handed out by private insurance companies and admin./HR departments or from bureaucrats working in a government ministry or a letter-soup ‘public health™’ agency.
Yet, it appears that the Norwegians are taking a careful look at the evidence and, so far, are avoiding increasing the fear factor. We’ll see over the next weeks and months if this quite ‘we’ll see how this one goes’ evolves.
Birda are much different from humans, but cows are mammals. By passing a virus through a cow, it might possibly mutate into a version more suited to infect humans.
And one way to get an infection is getting vaccinated the classical way: a small dose of the virus in question, making you just a little sick while the immune system dies its thing.
Speculating:
In order to get another pandemic (in the West) and to further crush food production (in the West) and enable oligarchs to buy up even more land (in the West) - use the cows as the intermediary host for the virus so it can then infect humans.
Bonus: synthetic foods are cheaper to produce, if quality of same isn't measured against real food but just against tables of contents and RDI. Hence, stop production of real milk, cheese, other dairy and meat and leather and convert to synthetic food, to increase profits. After all, soda is 98% water, and since you can sell bottled water even in Scandinavia - where most lakes and streams have cleaner water than US tapwater - replacing milk et c with "Brawndo" should be trivial.
Add climate, DEI, ESG-tags as needed to every product.
Meanwhile, BRICS, under the near-total control of China, is very carefully not interrupting anything.
They must keep the population anxiety state elevated until the next engineered Big Event. There always has to be something to worry about. That is why they have “bird flu” and that is why they now color weather maps in all sorts of scary hues of red. The planet is literally on fire I am told by people all around me! Imagine how many other “viruses”, which aren’t being monitored, infected three people every day!