Hi, friends.

I was going to send you a recipe for Roasted Apple Cake today, but since Der Fuhrer is shutting down all communications about medical things, I thought I'd tell you what I know about Bird Flu, because it's already here and we're about to be affected by it seriously.

First, a lot of the background and current thoughts are from Sharon Astyk's articles on her site. She's offering an online workshop this Saturday (1/25/2025) on prepping for Bird Flu that costs $20, so if you're feeling behind in prep for this, it might make sense to sign up for that and go. Info is on her site.

Second, I found this H5N1 dashboard being updated by Daniel Summers for as long as he can find info: https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/danielrsummers/viz/H5N1ReassortmentRiskDec_122024/H5N1FullDashboard​

I'm also reading emails from Dr. Katelyn Jetelina, who is following H5N1 and COVID at the same time.

I'm not going to give you the background on Bird Flu (H5N1) because there's plenty still out there about it and I'm not anywhere near to an epidemiologist, but I am going to tell you that the mortality rate of Bird Flu in humans seems to be at the very least 10% and I've seen some places saying up to 40% in humans. That means that out of every ten people who get infected with H5N1, between one and four of them will die. (Compare that to the COVID mortality rate of under 10%.)

This is serious. You need to do what you can to avoid getting it. Mask outside your house, wash hands as soon as you get in, leave your outdoor shoes outside the house, wipe down counters and stuff with bleach, use hand sanitizer, etc. All that stuff we were doing at the beginning of COVID, we need to do again because we've known avian flu for around 20 years and we know how it's spread. Wild animals and housepets that go outside can catch it from wild birds, too. People who keep chickens are advised to keep them in totally covered runs.

The other thing to know is that the food supply is going to be seriously affected. The state of Georgia is shut down for all poultry including eggs since last week, and it's only a matter of time before we can't buy eggs or poultry in stores near us, wherever we live. It's also going to compromise the dairy and beef, pork, and lamb supplies, and we may be unable to get those things for some period of time. Whatever you do, don't consume raw milk or raw milk products.

If you are offered the chance to get the vaccine, get it. I am skeptical that most of us will ever get a chance at it, but if you do, just get it.

If Trump shuts down the FDA and meat and dairy inspections, that means we'll have no way to know what's safe or not. And there will be no official sources allowed to tell us how the bird flu is spreading. So this is a great time to not panic, but to reevaluate where you're buying food and what kinds of food you're buying, and realize that being able to trust a safe food supply was a luxury that may not continue.

Follow Sharon Astyk on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/sharonastyk.bsky.social​

Follow Daniel Summers on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/danielrsummers.bsky.social​

Sign up for Dr. Katelyn Jetelina's Substack emails: https://yourlocalepidemiologist.substack.com/​

If you have local resources about wildlife in your area, especially birds, follow that.

I hate this, but better to know than not to know.

Love,

Magda

Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/pecsenye.bsky.social​

IG: https://www.instagram.com/magdapecsenye/​

Threads: https://www.threads.net/@magdapecsenye​

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