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On February 20 The Globe and Mail featured an article highlighting the potential risk of H5N1, or Avian, flu, in the article “Avian flu ‘would dwarf the COVID pandemic in terms of impact,’ researcher says”
From the article:
What’s been the biggest “uh-oh” moment for you (Dr. Richard Webby, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital) in this current chapter of the H5N1 story?
The biggest uh-oh is really the introduction of this virus into cows. You pick up a textbook of virology and look at hosts that influenza A viruses can infect – cow’s not on that list. Similarly, dolphins or porpoises – not considered to be a host of influenza. And H5 has come along and infected them all.
Livestock animal traceability is foundational to mitigation of contagion within, and between, livestock animal herds. Accurate, current, and independent assertion of current and historic animal location is necessary to dispatch resources rapidly and efficiently enough that the contagion can be curtailed.
Canada’s livestock animal traceability practice and technologies remain largely unchanged from when the current system was commissioned in 2000. Significant deficiencies identified in 2013 as part of the post-recover investigation after BSE, and necessary improvements identified in 2016, remain unimplemented in 2025.
New technologies (like ours at Flokk Systems Inc.) and new approaches are necessary to resolve known deficiencies in Canadian livestock traceability and meet the challenges, and address the opportunities, of 2025. Our discussion paper “Time to pull this calf ourselves: Canada’s beef industry must find our own path to livestock traceability” provides avenues of investigation to realizing this.
Come join us!
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