@thedavidpeck.bsky.social
Pinned
Reposted
We find that subclade K viruses are antigenically advanced; however, this year's flu vaccine surprisingly elicited antibodies in many individuals that efficiently recognized these viruses. The implications are clear: go get this year’s vaccine if you haven’t already!
www.medrxiv.org/content/10.6...
www.medrxiv.org/content/10.6...
Antibodies elicited by the 2025-2026 influenza vaccine in humans
A new H3N2 variant (named subclade K) possesses several key hemagglutinin substitutions and is circulating widely during the 2025-2026 influenza season. In this report, we completed experiments to det...
www.medrxiv.org
January 7, 2026 at 1:34 PM
We find that subclade K viruses are antigenically advanced; however, this year's flu vaccine surprisingly elicited antibodies in many individuals that efficiently recognized these viruses. The implications are clear: go get this year’s vaccine if you haven’t already!
www.medrxiv.org/content/10.6...
www.medrxiv.org/content/10.6...
Reposted
Unprecedented wildlife loss worldwide: WOAH highlights the global impact of HPAI H5
Read more at: https://beaconbio.org/en/report/?reportid=b65d7f72-6a64-4a98-8d5b-7f4ac20eafa2&eventid=63a4b372-386e-44ef-b0ca-bf6ef380539a&utm_source=bluesky&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=socialpost
Read more at: https://beaconbio.org/en/report/?reportid=b65d7f72-6a64-4a98-8d5b-7f4ac20eafa2&eventid=63a4b372-386e-44ef-b0ca-bf6ef380539a&utm_source=bluesky&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=socialpost
January 7, 2026 at 8:45 PM
Unprecedented wildlife loss worldwide: WOAH highlights the global impact of HPAI H5
Read more at: https://beaconbio.org/en/report/?reportid=b65d7f72-6a64-4a98-8d5b-7f4ac20eafa2&eventid=63a4b372-386e-44ef-b0ca-bf6ef380539a&utm_source=bluesky&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=socialpost
Read more at: https://beaconbio.org/en/report/?reportid=b65d7f72-6a64-4a98-8d5b-7f4ac20eafa2&eventid=63a4b372-386e-44ef-b0ca-bf6ef380539a&utm_source=bluesky&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=socialpost
Reposted
Nature Communications: Adjuvanted influenza vaccination increases pre-existing H5N1 cross-reactive antibodies Mariana
Alcocer Bonifaz et al
go.nature.com/3YtyPS2
Alcocer Bonifaz et al
go.nature.com/3YtyPS2
January 7, 2026 at 4:37 PM
Nature Communications: Adjuvanted influenza vaccination increases pre-existing H5N1 cross-reactive antibodies Mariana
Alcocer Bonifaz et al
go.nature.com/3YtyPS2
Alcocer Bonifaz et al
go.nature.com/3YtyPS2
Reposted
High pathogenicity avian influenza virus H5N1 clade 2.3.4.4b in Antarctica: Multiple Introductions and the First Confirmed Infection of Ice-Dependent Seals https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.01.04.697571v1
January 5, 2026 at 10:31 AM
High pathogenicity avian influenza virus H5N1 clade 2.3.4.4b in Antarctica: Multiple Introductions and the First Confirmed Infection of Ice-Dependent Seals https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.01.04.697571v1
Reposted
New Interview: www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a...
January 3, 2026 at 9:42 PM
New Interview: www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a...
Reposted
AFD Blog `South Korea: MAFRA Reports Increased Infectivity & Pathogenicity of This Year's Avian Flu Strains' #HPAI #H5N1 afludiary.blogspot.com/2025/12/sout...
South Korea: MAFRA Reports Increased Infectivity & Pathogenicity of This Year's Avian Flu Strains
#19,000 Last August we speculated over what kind of fall avian flu season we might see ( H5Nx: Reassort & Repeat ) , following the previous ...
afludiary.blogspot.com
December 26, 2025 at 9:42 AM
AFD Blog `South Korea: MAFRA Reports Increased Infectivity & Pathogenicity of This Year's Avian Flu Strains' #HPAI #H5N1 afludiary.blogspot.com/2025/12/sout...
Reposted
Avian influenza isn’t new. But the most recent outbreak’s rapid and prolific spread is setting off alarm bells. While the H5N1 virus may have started in birds, it spread through multiple species. That's part of what makes it so difficult to defeat.
https://t.uga.edu/4j5IhUU
https://t.uga.edu/4j5IhUU
December 22, 2025 at 9:41 PM
Avian influenza isn’t new. But the most recent outbreak’s rapid and prolific spread is setting off alarm bells. While the H5N1 virus may have started in birds, it spread through multiple species. That's part of what makes it so difficult to defeat.
https://t.uga.edu/4j5IhUU
https://t.uga.edu/4j5IhUU
Reposted
Genotype A3 influenza A(H5N1) isolated from fur seals shows high virulence in mammals ...
->Nature | #mammal | More from Lil Dr Glen EcoChat at BigEarthData.ai
->Nature | #mammal | More from Lil Dr Glen EcoChat at BigEarthData.ai
Genotype A3 influenza A(H5N1) isolated from fur seals shows high virulence in mammals ...
All animal procedures were conducted in accordance with international, national, and institutional guidelines for the care and use of laboratory animals. This study complies with the ARRIVE (Animal Research: Reporting of In Vivo Experiments) guidelines (https://arriveguidelines.org/). Experimental protocols were approved...
www.nature.com
December 25, 2025 at 2:25 AM
Reposted
🧬🐦 Converging influenza threats
The global rise of influenza A(H3N2) subclade K 🦠 and ongoing A(H5N1) zoonotic spillover 🐦🐄 remind us that influenza evolves across human, animal, and environmental interfaces 🌍.
📊 Surveillance | 💉 Vaccination | 🧪 Genomics | 🩺 Preparedness
The global rise of influenza A(H3N2) subclade K 🦠 and ongoing A(H5N1) zoonotic spillover 🐦🐄 remind us that influenza evolves across human, animal, and environmental interfaces 🌍.
📊 Surveillance | 💉 Vaccination | 🧪 Genomics | 🩺 Preparedness
December 22, 2025 at 6:27 PM
🧬🐦 Converging influenza threats
The global rise of influenza A(H3N2) subclade K 🦠 and ongoing A(H5N1) zoonotic spillover 🐦🐄 remind us that influenza evolves across human, animal, and environmental interfaces 🌍.
📊 Surveillance | 💉 Vaccination | 🧪 Genomics | 🩺 Preparedness
The global rise of influenza A(H3N2) subclade K 🦠 and ongoing A(H5N1) zoonotic spillover 🐦🐄 remind us that influenza evolves across human, animal, and environmental interfaces 🌍.
📊 Surveillance | 💉 Vaccination | 🧪 Genomics | 🩺 Preparedness
Reposted
Last weekend #USDA announced that Wisconsin had detected #H5N1 #birdflu in a dairy cow herd. Today the agency revealed that genetic analysis of virus from the herd shows this event was the result of a new spillover from "wildlife." www.aphis.usda.gov/news/agency-...
Update: Genetic Sequencing Results for Wisconsin Dairy Herd Detection of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza | Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service
Contact: [email protected]
www.aphis.usda.gov
December 20, 2025 at 1:20 AM
Last weekend #USDA announced that Wisconsin had detected #H5N1 #birdflu in a dairy cow herd. Today the agency revealed that genetic analysis of virus from the herd shows this event was the result of a new spillover from "wildlife." www.aphis.usda.gov/news/agency-...
Reposted
“Tracking H5N1 in wildlife risks becoming overwhelming now that the virus is so geographically widespread and affects so many species.” www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Could tracking animals’ health help to avert the next pandemic?
Avian influenza is sweeping the globe and infecting dozens of species. Advocates of an approach called One Health are calling for broad surveillance of wildlife, livestock and pets.
www.nature.com
December 19, 2025 at 6:05 PM
“Tracking H5N1 in wildlife risks becoming overwhelming now that the virus is so geographically widespread and affects so many species.” www.nature.com/articles/d41...
December 19, 2025 at 10:55 AM
”all the life you have or ever will have is today, tonight, tomorrow, today, tonight, tomorrow, over and over again (I hope), he thought, and so you had better take what time there is and be very thankful for it.”
- For Whom the Bell Tolls
- For Whom the Bell Tolls
December 19, 2025 at 10:39 AM
”all the life you have or ever will have is today, tonight, tomorrow, today, tonight, tomorrow, over and over again (I hope), he thought, and so you had better take what time there is and be very thankful for it.”
- For Whom the Bell Tolls
- For Whom the Bell Tolls
Open Positions
Group leader positions at the Ignaz Semmelweis Institute (Vienna, Austria)
semmelweisinstitute.ac.at/training-car...
Group leader positions at the Ignaz Semmelweis Institute (Vienna, Austria)
semmelweisinstitute.ac.at/training-car...
December 19, 2025 at 10:30 AM
Open Positions
Group leader positions at the Ignaz Semmelweis Institute (Vienna, Austria)
semmelweisinstitute.ac.at/training-car...
Group leader positions at the Ignaz Semmelweis Institute (Vienna, Austria)
semmelweisinstitute.ac.at/training-car...
“Very often the test of one's allegiance to a cause or to a people is precisely the willingness to stay the course when things are boring, to run the risk of repeating an old argument just one more time, or of going one more round with a hostile or (much worse) indifferent audience.” - C. Hitchens
December 18, 2025 at 11:19 AM
“Very often the test of one's allegiance to a cause or to a people is precisely the willingness to stay the course when things are boring, to run the risk of repeating an old argument just one more time, or of going one more round with a hostile or (much worse) indifferent audience.” - C. Hitchens
Reposted
AFD Blog `Declining Mammalian Spillover Submissions To USDA Over Past 8 Months' #H5N1 afludiary.blogspot.com/2025/12/decl...
Declining Mammalian Spillover Submissions To USDA Over Past 8 Months
#18,991 The USDA maintains a dashboard of Detections of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza in Mammals - which is highly dependent upon Sta...
afludiary.blogspot.com
December 17, 2025 at 1:07 PM
AFD Blog `Declining Mammalian Spillover Submissions To USDA Over Past 8 Months' #H5N1 afludiary.blogspot.com/2025/12/decl...
Reposted
New preprint in Biorxiv: Mass mortality at Adélie penguin mega-colonies due to avian cholera confounds H5N1 highly pathogenic avian influenza surveillance in Antarctica. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
December 17, 2025 at 6:23 AM
New preprint in Biorxiv: Mass mortality at Adélie penguin mega-colonies due to avian cholera confounds H5N1 highly pathogenic avian influenza surveillance in Antarctica. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Reposted
Mass mortality at penguin mega-colonies due to avian cholera confounds H5N1 HPAIV surveillance in Antarctica https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2025.12.16.694678v1
December 17, 2025 at 3:18 AM
Mass mortality at penguin mega-colonies due to avian cholera confounds H5N1 HPAIV surveillance in Antarctica https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2025.12.16.694678v1
Reposted
This year, researchers advanced H5N1 research showing that the virus in dairy cattle retains avian features, posing low pandemic risk, and that pasteurized milk with inactive viral components is safe. Studies also identified key S. aureus virulence mechanisms in natural host models.
December 16, 2025 at 4:00 PM
This year, researchers advanced H5N1 research showing that the virus in dairy cattle retains avian features, posing low pandemic risk, and that pasteurized milk with inactive viral components is safe. Studies also identified key S. aureus virulence mechanisms in natural host models.
Reposted
See also the comment by Jessica Belser (@jessbelser.bsky.social): "A pandemic toolbox for clade 2.3.4.4b A(H5N1) influenza virus risk assessment": www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
A pandemic toolbox for clade 2.3.4.4b A(H5N1) influenza virus risk assessment
Since 1997, more than 1000 cases of highly pathogenic avian influenza A(H5N1) have
been reported in humans.1 During this time, A(H5N1) viruses have evolved into dozens
of clades, showing ever-expandin...
www.thelancet.com
December 16, 2025 at 5:54 AM
See also the comment by Jessica Belser (@jessbelser.bsky.social): "A pandemic toolbox for clade 2.3.4.4b A(H5N1) influenza virus risk assessment": www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
Reposted
Wisconsin's, the second largest dairy producing state in the US, has #H5N1 #birdflu in a herd. It will be interesting to see if the virus moves through WI herds in the way it swept through California's (#1 dairy producing state). www.aphis.usda.gov/livestock-po...
December 15, 2025 at 3:02 PM
Wisconsin's, the second largest dairy producing state in the US, has #H5N1 #birdflu in a herd. It will be interesting to see if the virus moves through WI herds in the way it swept through California's (#1 dairy producing state). www.aphis.usda.gov/livestock-po...
Reposted
Excited to share that our mansucript is finally published! Check it out here:
www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
Attachment and replication of clade 2.3.4.4b influenza A (H5N1) viruses in human respiratory epithelium: an in-vitro study
Clade 2.3.4.4b H5N1 viruses have phenotypic characteristics that are different from
a clade 2.1.3.2 H5N12005 virus. The ability of clade 2.3.4.4b viruses to attach to
and replicate in respiratory epit...
www.thelancet.com
December 15, 2025 at 5:17 PM
Excited to share that our mansucript is finally published! Check it out here:
www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
Reposted
Highly pathogenic avian influenza virus H5N1 detected for the first time in dairy cows in Wisconsin, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. There are 1.3 million dairy cows in Wisconsin, second only to California, with 1.7 million dairy cows.
December 15, 2025 at 2:35 PM
Highly pathogenic avian influenza virus H5N1 detected for the first time in dairy cows in Wisconsin, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. There are 1.3 million dairy cows in Wisconsin, second only to California, with 1.7 million dairy cows.
Reposted
“The only reason that he’s able to continue to harass me is because New Yorkers are paying for it,” Boylan said in an interview with THE CITY. “It never ends.” www.thecity.nyc/2025/12/15/t...
Taxpayers Forked Out Another $1.3 Million for Cuomo’s Sexual Harassment Defense
As his failed mayoral campaign played out, the former governor’s lawyers ran up the bill contesting the claims of a former state trooper on his security detail.
www.thecity.nyc
December 15, 2025 at 1:19 PM
“The only reason that he’s able to continue to harass me is because New Yorkers are paying for it,” Boylan said in an interview with THE CITY. “It never ends.” www.thecity.nyc/2025/12/15/t...