Crackdown on Kensington, Bird flu outbreak, Eurovision Song Contest

The avian flu has spread to birds, foxes, sea lions, dairy cows, and a farmworker has been infected. All this is raising concerns about a potential pandemic.

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FILE - A line of Holstein dairy cows feed through a fence at a dairy farm in Idaho on March 11, 2009. As of April 11, 2024, a strain of the highly pathogenic avian influenza, or HPAI, that has killed millions of wild birds in recent years has been found in at least 24 dairy cow herds in eight U.S. states: Texas, Kansas, New Mexico, Ohio, Idaho, Michigan and North Carolina and South Dakota. (AP Photo/Charlie Litchfield, File)

FILE - A line of Holstein dairy cows feed through a fence at a dairy farm in Idaho on March 11, 2009. As of April 11, 2024, a strain of the highly pathogenic avian influenza, or HPAI, that has killed millions of wild birds in recent years has been found in at least 24 dairy cow herds in eight U.S. states: Texas, Kansas, New Mexico, Ohio, Idaho, Michigan and North Carolina and South Dakota. (AP Photo/Charlie Litchfield, File)

Bird flu has spread to wild and farm birds, foxes, sea lions, and now dairy cows in the United States, something that has never happened before. A farmworker has also been infected but his illness was relatively mild. All this is raising concerns among researchers as they watch the H5N1 influenza virus evolve. Is human-to-human transmission possible? Are we at risk for another pandemic? We turn to two researchers for some answers.  Troy Sutton is an assistant professor in veterinary and biomedical sciences at Penn State and Angela Rasmussen is a virologist at the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization at the University of Saskatchewan.


Malmö, Sweden is set to host the grand final of the Eurovision Song Contest, a global event with a rich history dating back to 1956 in Lugano, Switzerland. The event gained recent pop culture fame through Will Ferrell’s Netflix movie Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga. Our producer Andreas Copes speaks with wiwibloggs founder William Lee Adams about the event’s political significance and America’s limited engagement. Also, Australia’s 2016 representative Dami Im shares her memories from performing on the big stage and the event’s long-lasting effect on her career.

 

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