'A beautiful soul': Funeral held for baby boy killed in wrong-way crash on Highway 401
A funeral was held on Wednesday for a three-month-old boy who died after being involved in a wrong-way crash on Highway 401 in Whitby last week.
U.S. officials have strengthened measures to contain the further spread of the first known outbreak of H5N1 or bird flu in dairy cows, which has now spread to 33 herds in eight states and bled over into the country's milk supply.
So far, only one person - a Texas farm worker - has tested positive for H5N1, and while health officials and scientists say the risk to people remains low, many questions remain.
The spread of bird flu among dairy cattle reflects an expansion of the range of mammals that can be sickened by the virus that typically infects birds.
Scientists are on alert for changes in H5N1 that could signal the virus is adapting to spread easily among humans. The virus has caused serious or fatal infections among people in close contact with wild birds or poultry. It has long been on the list of viruses with pandemic potential, and any expansion to a new mammal species is concerning.
The infections in cattle are from the same subtype of bird flu that has been infecting wild birds and poultry flocks globally for more than two years, also killing several mammal species that likely contracted the virus from consuming sick or dead birds.
The full extent remains unknown, but several recent developments suggest it may be in more herds than documented.
On April 23, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said it has detected particles of H5N1 in the milk supply. Tests suggest they are remnants of virus killed during the pasteurization process, and that the milk is safe. Early testing has not detected any live virus in milk samples, and U.S. health officials believe people cannot get sick from drinking pasteurized milk and warn not to drink unpasteurized milk.
Officials have learned the virus can be present in cows that show no signs of infection, and milk from those cows does not show signs of infection such as being thicker and yellow.
To contain the outbreak, the U.S. government is requiring dairy cattle moving between states to be tested for bird flu.
U.S. officials had thought the outbreak was recent, but new information suggests it may have started late last year.
After the U.S. Department of Agriculture released some raw genetic data onto a public database on April 21, a team of evolutionary biologists led by Dr. Michael Worobey of the University of Arizona pieced together the viral genetic codes.
The team mapped the outbreak by tracking changes in the virus as it spread among herds. Based on their analysis, Worobey said in an April 24 interview that the outbreak in dairy cattle occurred through a single transmission event from a bird to a cow in late 2023, likely in December.
It is still unclear how the virus is spreading, but there is evidence of wild bird-to-cow, cow-to-cow, cow-to-poultry, and one case of cow-to-human transmission. There is no evidence of human-to-human transmission.
Because of the heavy viral load in milk and mammary glands, scientists suspect the virus is being spread to animals during the milking process, either through contact with infected equipment or with virus that becomes aerosolized during cleaning procedures.
Whether the virus can spread through respiratory droplets that infect the airway, as flu viruses typically spread in humans, remains unclear.
The U.S. has a stockpile of bird flu vaccines matched with the strain currently circulating, as well as antivirals that could be used to treat human infections. For a major epidemic or a pandemic, the U.S. would have to scale up considerably.
Flu vaccine suppliers Sanofi, GlaxoSmithKline and CSL Seqirus have said they are monitoring avian flu and stand ready.
(Reporting by Julie Steenhuysen and Tom Polansek in Chicago; Editing by Caroline Humer and David Gregorio)
A funeral was held on Wednesday for a three-month-old boy who died after being involved in a wrong-way crash on Highway 401 in Whitby last week.
There has been a "sophisticated" cybersecurity breach detected on B.C. government networks, Premier David Eby confirmed Wednesday evening.
Toronto police say a man was taken into custody outside Drake's Bridle Path mansion Wednesday afternoon after he tried to gain access to the residence.
U.S. President Joe Biden said for the first time Wednesday he would halt shipments of American weapons to Israel, which he acknowledged have been used to kill civilians in Gaza, if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu orders a major invasion of the city of Rafah.
Dakota Joshua had a goal and two assists and the Vancouver Canucks scored three third-period goals to claw out a 5-4 comeback victory over the Edmonton Oilers in Game 1 of their second-round playoff series Wednesday.
One of the Indian nationals accused of murdering British Columbia Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar says in a social media video that he received a Canadian study permit with the help of an Indian immigration consultancy.
Pfizer has agreed to settle more than 10,000 lawsuits about cancer risks related to the now discontinued heartburn drug Zantac, Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the deal.
Quebec Premier Francois Legault is defending his comments about a new history museum after he was accused by a prominent First Nations group of trying to erase their history.
Independent U.S. presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. had a parasite in his brain more than a decade ago, but has fully recovered, his campaign said, after the New York Times reported about the ailment.
The stakes have been set for a bet between Vancouver and Edmonton's mayors on who will win Round 2 of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
A grieving mother is hosting a helmet drive in the hopes of protecting children on Manitoba First Nations from a similar tragedy that killed her daughter.
A chicken farmer near Mattawa made an 'eggstraordinary' find Friday morning when she discovered one of her hens laid an egg close to three times the size of an average large chicken egg.
A P.E.I. lighthouse and a New Brunswick river are being honoured in a Canada Post series.
An Ontario man says he paid more than $7,700 for a luxury villa he found on a popular travel website -- but the listing was fake.
Whether passionate about Poirot or hungry for Holmes, Winnipeg mystery obsessives have had a local haunt for over 30 years in which to search out their latest page-turners.
Eighty-two-year-old Susan Neufeldt and 90-year-old Ulrich Richter are no spring chickens, but their love blossomed over the weekend with their wedding at Pine View Manor just outside of Rosthern.
Alberta Ballet's double-bill production of 'Der Wolf' and 'The Rite of Spring' marks not only its final show of the season, but the last production for twin sisters Alexandra and Jennifer Gibson.
A mother goose and her goslings caused a bit of a traffic jam on a busy stretch of the Trans-Canada Highway near Vancouver Saturday.