Re: Texas - Dallas/Ft. Worth area seasonal flu 2013/2014
Granbury mom is the latest victim of flu outbreak
GRANBURY ? There's been another flu death in North Texas. Stacey Parker was a 38-year-old mother of five from Granbury.
Her family said she never got a flu shot; now they are encouraging everyone to be inoculated.
Doctors said Parker was a victim of the H1N1 swine flu strain.
"It's been an almighty trial," said Stacey's husband, Tony Parker. "I have never been through something like this."
http://www.wfaa.com/news/local/Granbury-mom-is-the-latest-victim-of-flu-outbreak-242115121.html
News
story with video from
00:18 to
00:26 defining the bird fatality site on the highway.
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<tr style="float: center;"><td style="font-size: 140%; font-weight: bold;">200 dead birds found in Burleson may have starved, veterinarian says
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<tr style="float: center;"><td style="font-size: 90%;">About 200 grackles and a few starlings were found dead on and around Interstate 35W in Burleson this week.
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<tr style="float: center; font-size: 60%;"><td>By Matt Peterson and
Yusra Jabeen, Staff Writer</td></tr>
<tr style="float: center; font-size: 60%;"><td><a href="http://thescoopblog.dallasnews.com/" target="_blank">The Dallas Morning News</a>
3:27 pm on January 24, 2014</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 100%;">'
Dr. Bob Denton
Veterinarian
Cold weather and hunger coupled with old age and underlying disease
might have killed the birds.
. . .
?It is indeed strange? for such a large number of birds to
die at the same time, he said'
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Food is Everywhere
in the
DFW MetroPlex
Scavenger Starvation
Burleson is about 10 miles south of Highway 20's bordering of
Fort Worth and roughly 30 miles east of
Granbury as the grackle flies, a community featuring lake activity adverts.
Grackles near Texas cities are peri-domestic birds, large and effective
scavengers that will eat from pet food bowls after driving off cats and small dogs. They congregate behind restaurants and at dining patios often taking food from tables
recently emptied, but not yet cleared.
Few would rank starvation as a cognate to Texas grackles near a metropolis of 6 million covering an 60 mile by 40 mile populated corridor. Per capita restaurant business frequently is in the top decile nationwide.
Food is everywhere for the undiscriminating grackle.
On-site Necropsy Findings
The doctor conducting the necropsy found
enlarged liver and
upper respiratory infection on the specimen under exam. An opinion from an off-site, non-attending specialist indicated a potential for starvation, among other options like disease and cold weather.
Somehow the headline is only suggestive of starvation?
On-site Fatality Scene Findings
The animal control officers say they've "
never seen anything like it." The attending doctor says that such a large number dying at once is strange. The off-side expert says that it's
common.
We generally weigh opinions more for those who have the
facts at hand. Those who are
looking at the problem tend to provide a more detailed contemporary description.
200 birds,
at the same instant, die of starvation and fall from the sky
into a 1,000 square foot area?
==
Jones JC, Sonnberg S, Ko?er ZA, Shanmuganatham K, Seiler P, Shu Y, et al.
Possible role of songbirds and parakeets in transmission of influenza A(H7N9) virus to humans.
Emerg Infect Dis [Internet]. 2014 Mar [date cited].
http://dx.doi.org/10.3201/eid2003.131271
DOI: 10.3201/eid2003.131271
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<tr style="float: center;"><td style="font-size: 140%; font-weight: bold;">Possible Role of Songbirds and Parakeets in Transmission of Influenza A(H7N9) Virus to Humans
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<tr style="float: center;"><td style="font-size: 90%;">Songbirds are common
household pets and are in close contact with humans and domesticated animals. Their
wild counterparts also are likely to interact with poultry in backyard farms and in many farming sectors (14,15).
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<tr style="float: center; font-size: 60%;"><td>By Jeremy C. Jones, Stephanie Sonnberg, Zeynep A. Ko?er, Karthik Shanmuganatham, Patrick Seiler, Yuelong Shu, Huachen Zhu, Yi Guan, Malik Peiris, Richard J. Webby, and Robert G. Webster</td></tr>
<tr style="float: center; font-size: 60%;"><td><a href="http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/" target="_blank">EID Journal</a>
Volume 20, Number 3?March 2014
Ahead of Print
January 24, 2014</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 100%;">'Isolation of Virus from Organs Extract:
The sparrow that underwent necropsy showed trace virus only in the
lungs (Table 3). Both finch species showed
high virus titers in the
trachea (4.5?4.6 log10 EID50/mL). In the zebra finches, virus was observed
only in the tracheas, consistent with swab findings, but 1 of 2 society finches showed trace amounts of virus in the brain and eye, whereas the other had trace amounts in the small and large intestine and
high lung virus titer (5.8 log10 EID50/mL) (Table 3).'
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The passerine birds in this recent experiment showed various combinations of
upper and lower respiratory infection.
