Below are some useful links and resources on H5N1 and other bird flu viruses that I regularly check or have come across in my various flu research adventures. Updated on an ongoing basis, because the science never stops moving.
Bird Flu Case Reporting &Tracking:
ProMed-mail
Great website with real time updates and reports on infectious diseases around the world. I typically check this daily for new bird flu outbreak updates, as new reports are logged down the left column.
WHO Disease Outbreak News
https://www.who.int/emergencies/disease-outbreak-news
WHO issues news bulletins summarizing recent disease outbreaks. I have found the ones related to bird flu very useful as they typically provide additional details about the specific case that are not always found in other sources.
CIDRAP
https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/avian-influenza-bird-flu
The Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota is a great resource for infectious disease updates and has a lot of good material on bird flu.
Avian Flu Diary
https://afludiary.blogspot.com/
The man, the myth, the legend. Michael Coston at Avian Flu Diary has been an unparalleled source of everything bird flu. Love this blog and read it all the time.
USDA Detections of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (2022-2024)
https://www.aphis.usda.gov/livestock-poultry-disease/avian/avian-influenza/hpai-detections
USDA provides prompt updates to its ongoing count of H5N1 bird flu infections reported in: poultry, wild birds, mammals, and (most recently) livestock. Each subpage has useful information about recent bird flu outbreaks in the U.S., especially the subpage dedicated to logging all known dairy cattle infections.
WAHIS Dashboard
https://wahis.woah.org/#/event-management
The World Organization for Animal Health has a great website called the World Animal Health Information System which logs all reportable disease outbreaks in animals from countries around the world. The events management section is an interactive list of the recent outbreak reports. This website has been very useful for identifying recent H5N1 cases in poultry, wild birds, and mammals.
CDC FluView Dashboard
https://www.cdc.gov/fluview/index.html
This site provides an overview of weekly seasonal flu activity, including overall trends in infection rates and deaths and breaks down confirmed flu cases by subtype. From a bird flu perspective, this site is a helpful tool as it logs any “novel” flu virus infections that are flagged by the labs. For example: Week 47 (ending November 23) has a notation about two H5 bird flu cases reported in California. It’s a useful way to confirm reported bird flu cases in humans.
Unofficial HPAI H5N1 Map (Claudinne Miller)
Map of H5N1 human cases globally. It provides a good visualization of the geographic distribution of H5N1 clade 2.3.4.4b. This map also shows data from the dairy cattle outbreaks, poultry outbreaks, and wild animals.
Genetic Sequencing and Mutations:
Nextstrain – Real-time tracking of influenza A/H5N1 virus evolution
Useful data visualization of genetic sequences of H5N1 viruses (sampled between Dec 2021 and Nov 2024). There is a helpful map showing how the virus has spread globally and diverged into varying genotypes. Bird flu is always on the move, constantly changing and constantly evolving.
CDC H5N1 genetic changes inventory (last updated in 2012)
https://archive.cdc.gov/www_cdc_gov/flu/avianflu/h5n1/inventory.htm
This is a spreadsheet created by the CDC of genetic mutations in H5N1 viruses that have been reported by scientific studies. The CDC ceased updating this list in 2012, which is a shame because I think it’s a very useful reference guide for specific mutations.
And of course don’t forget:
The only and only!