Post 52 — Preparing for the Next Influenza Pandemic The recent expansion of the H5N1 virus in mammals — including infections in cattle and humans — has reignited global concern over the risk of a new pandemic. 1/10

Post 51 — H5N1: New Zoonotic Frontiers The H5N1 virus keeps expanding across species and continents. Recent studies show how this pathogen, once confined to birds, now crosses ecological borders and adapts to new hosts, challenging global surveillance. 1/10

Post 50 — H5N1: The Power of Early Detection and New Antiviral Targets 1/9

Post 49 — H5N1: Science, Surveillance, and Vaccines for the New Global Scenario 1/10

Post 48 — H5N1: The Return of Avian Influenza in Europe and the US – The New Normal! Europe begins autumn 2025 with the return of H5N1 across multiple countries. According to the EU Animal Disease Information System, 295 outbreaks have been confirmed in poultry farms across 20 nations. (1/9)

Five Years of COVID-19 in Tocantins (Brazil) Integrated epidemiology + genomics show vaccination cut hospitalizations & deaths by >90%. 3,900+ genomes reveal 166 lineages, from Gamma/Delta to LP.8.1.4 (2025). 👉 www.preprints.org/manuscript/2... #COVID19 #Genomics #Brazil #SARSCoV2 #PublicHealth

Post 47 — H5N1: Artificial Intelligence and Environmental Surveillance in Real Time The rise of modeling and machine learning is transforming our understanding of H5N1. (1/11)

Post 46 — H5N1: Artificial Intelligence and Field Surveillance Predicting the next genetic rearrangement of the influenza virus is one of virology’s greatest challenges. H5N1 has already shown that a single gene swap can generate a variant with new biological behavior. (1/9)

Post 45 — H5N1: Risk Communication and On-Farm Biosafety The spread of H5N1 to dairy cattle marked a turning point in the panzootic. Clade 2.3.4.4b (genotype B3.13) infected up to 15% of cows on affected U.S. farms, causing fever, mastitis, decreased milk yield, and milk alterations. 1/10

Post 44 — H5N1: diagnostics, adaptation, and global surveillance As the H5N1 virus expands its reach among birds and mammals, the gap between viral spread and global detection capacity continues to grow. 1/10

Post 43 — H5N1: the virus that adapted to the world (and to cities) Even publishing twice a week, it’s hard to keep up with all the new studies on H5N1 — a clear sign of the severity and speed with which this panzootic is evolving. 1/15

Post 42 — H5N1: when food becomes a hidden risk Feeding raw diets to pets, with fresh meat or unpasteurized milk, may look “natural.” But it can hide a serious danger: H5N1 avian influenza. Contaminated raw products have already caused fatal cat outbreaks in Europe, Asia, and North America. 1/10

🚨 New breakthrough against COVID-19 A study led by Prof. Saulo Fernandes (School of Pharmacy/UFRGS), in which I am a co-author, identified a new class of reversible inhibitors of the main protease (Mpro) of SARS-CoV-2 – an essential enzyme for viral replication. (1/3)

Post 41 — H5N1: when the environment changes the rules of the game. In Italy (2016–2023), three epidemic waves had distinct dynamics: the first spread locally among poultry in farms, while the most recent was linked to wetlands, water bodies, and gulls. 1/8

Post 40 — H5N1: Tests Under Trial in an International Challenge We’ve reached the 40th post, discussing the importance, challenges, and shortcomings in the global escalation of the H5N1 panzootic. Latin America remains vulnerable, lacking an integrated lab network. 1/8

During a Dengue outbreak in Salinas (MG), our study identified #DENV1 in Aedes aegypti mosquitoes and found high species diversity in houses and urban forest fragments 🌿🦟. Elevated risk of arbovirus spillover! 🔗 Read: memorias.ioc.fiocruz.br/article/1109... #Dengue #Arboviruses #OneHealth #Aedes

Post 39 — H5N1: a global virus in pets, birds, and livestock H5N1 (clade 2.3.4.4b) has become the most adaptable and dangerous avian influenza virus ever recorded. It crossed borders, reached Antarctica, and broke the species barrier—infecting cattle, cats, dogs, and even sea lions. 1/10

🎉 An Important Achievement for Health Research! 🎉 Our project “New Anti-Dengue Therapy: Screening and Validation of Multi-Target Compounds with Artificial Intelligence” has been approved in the PPSUS Call (FAPERGS No. 01/2025). 🚀 1/4

Post 38 — H5N1: Partial Protection, New Hosts, and Fatal Cases in Pets The H5N1 virus (clade 2.3.4.4b) remains active and unpredictable. In recent weeks, four new scientific reports brought evidence that changes how we assess risk, surveillance, and prevention. 1/14

Post 37 — H5N1: new risks for professionals, species, and herds In the past week, H5N1 outbreaks have been reported in the US, Canada, UK, Spain, Bulgaria, Argentina, Antarctica, and Mexico. Migratory birds are on the move, spreading the virus further. 1/8

Post 36 — Invisible Routes of H5N1: a case without exposure, sick mammals, and wind as a vector 1/13

Post 35 — When H5N1 Walks Through Your Front Door Imagine buying the most premium cat food — and your cat dies of encephalitis caused by H5N1. That’s exactly what happened in San Francisco, USA. A domestic cat was infected after eating raw food contaminated with the virus. 1/10

Post 34 — Swine and H5N1: the forgotten link that could redefine the next pandemic. We’ve talked about birds, cattle, felines, and even sea lions. But one species carries a silent risk — and could be key in the next pandemic: swine. 1/11

Post 33 — H5N1: from Silent Evolution to Rapid Field Testing The advance of H5N1 is not limited to the growing number of outbreaks in birds and mammals: 1/12

Post 32 — H5N1 Is Rewriting the Rules H5N1’s journey: from a virus in aquatic birds on a Chinese farm in 1996/97 to a global threat. 1/11

Post 31 — The Reality of Those on the Frontline Against H5N1 Last Friday, Ralph Vanstreels gave a remarkable lecture on the impacts of H5N1. He showed how the virus has spread into new species — from birds of prey to vultures and even armadillos — outside official protocols. 1/10

Post 30 — H5N1 in Milk: How the Mammary Gland Became a Hidden Engine of the Epidemic The discovery of H5N1 clade 2.3.4.4b replicating in the mammary glands of dairy cows has changed our understanding of the virus’s expansion in mammals. 1/12

Post 29 — Adaptation Underway: H5N1 Is Narrowing the Gap Toward Human-to-Human Transmission The H5N1 clade 2.3.4.4b has changed a lot since it circulated only among birds. Since 2010, it has accumulated adaptive mutations that increase its ability to infect mammals, thinning species barrier. 1/10

Post 28 — Climate, Environment, and Citizen Science: The New Front in H5N1 Surveillance In a recent study in the Philippines, researchers combined remote sensing data (satellite imagery) with bird occurrence records provided by observers using the eBird app to improve predictive models. 1/10

New study reveals the genetic and antigenic diversity of Bubaline alphaherpesvirus 1 (BuHV-1) Researchers from Argentina, Uruguay, and Brazil, including our team at UFRGS, have carried out the first complete genomic characterization of BuHV-1 in the Americas. 1/6

Post 27 — H5N1: What Cattle (and Humans) Tell Us About the Virus’s Next Move Sialic acid (SA) receptors act as binding sites for influenza viruses. When linked to galactose in α2,3 form (birds) or α2,6 form (humans), they guide infection to specific hosts (as in Post 2). 1/13

Post 26 — Containment or Chaos? What Works (or Doesn’t) in the Control of H5N1 Despite growing alerts, H5N1 continues to spread — now with direct impacts on the dairy supply chain. Three new studies shed light on where we are failing and what can still be done to turn the tide. 1/11

Post 25 — The Gene Dance: How New H5N1 Variants Are Born Since 2020, the world has seen the largest panzootic of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI), driven by H5Nx variants — the result of genetic reassortment between different influenza viruses. 1/12

🎙️ Interview now available! I had the opportunity to speak with the YouTube channel of the Brazilian Society of Clinical Analysis during the 50th CBAC about an urgent and increasingly relevant topic: the spread of the H5N1 virus and its global impacts. 1/4

Post 24 – What Can Canada’s Experience Teach Us About H5N1 Transmission? Between 2022 and 2023, British Columbia faced Canada’s largest H5N1 outbreak: 158 outbreaks in domestic birds — 80% in commercial farms. 1/16

🦠 New study detects Plasmodium in a neotropical primate in Brazil! Researchers report the first detection of P. brasilianum/P. malariae in a free-ranging Callithrix geoffroyi in Bahia. 1/9

📰 Our research is in the news! Highly pathogenic avian influenza (H5N1) has reached Antarctica — and our work is helping to explain how the virus crossed oceans and spread to the southernmost continent. 1/5

Post 23 — Human infections, sick cows, and billions at stake: the paradoxes of H5N1 in 2025 The number of human infections caused by H5N1 keeps rising. Between March 2024 and May 2025, 70 people were diagnosed with the virus in the U.S. 1/11

Post 22: H5N1 in 2025 — The Virus Spreads, Science Responds — But Time Is Against Us Amid the ongoing global expansion of H5N1, a vaccine with inactivated virus given to non-human primates maintained protective immunity for 5 years. 1/13

🎉 Achievement Unlocked! I’ve been awarded a CNPq Productivity Fellowship (PQ-C) in the field of Veterinary Medicine, with a score of 9.42, ranking P30 in the CNPq evaluation among 222 proposals evaluated. 1/7

Post 21 — Everything Is Connected: H5N1 Is Getting Too Close A 6-year-old boy is in critical condition in Cambodia after being infected with H5N1. Investigators found nearly 100 dead birds at his relatives' home. The boy had reportedly taken one of the chickens to his grandmother to cook. 1/11

🎓 Vaga de Iniciação Científica – PIBIC/CNPq – UFRGS 📌 Projeto aprovado: "Avaliação da atividade antiviral de extratos naturais provenientes dos ecossistemas mangue e restinga" 📍 Orientador: Prof. Fabrício Souza Campos - DEMIP/ICBS/UFRGS. (1/3)

Post 20 — H5N1: The Countryside Is Crying for Help, but the City Isn’t Listening! The H5N1 panzootic is spreading across rural areas. Yet, public health responses remain centered in cities and industries. Preparedness efforts continue to overlook the reality of rural life. 1/11

🐱 Post 19 — A Truck, a Cat, and the Harsh Lesson of H5N1 A cat rubbed against its owner's clothes after he came home from a dairy farm with H5N1-infected cows. Days later, the cat died of encephalitis. The virus had reached the home on contaminated clothes. (1/10)

🐄 Post 18 — New study shows H5N1 causes even greater losses in dairy herds A new study published in Nature Communications reveals that the impact of H5N1 on U.S. dairy cows is more severe than previously reported. Here's what you need to know 👇(1/10)

Post 17 — Mobile Lineages and Fitter Viruses The introduction of H5N1 clade 2.3.4.4b into North America in Nov. 2021 triggered one of the largest outbreaks ever: over 180 million domestic birds infected and the virus detected in 80+ wild species. (1/12)

Post 16 – H5N1 Vaccines: Where We Stand and What Still Needs to Be Done Despite the severity of the situation, critical gaps remain in H5N1 vaccination. If sustained human transmission occurs, producing vaccines at scale would take months — potentially triggering a global health crisis. (1/16)

Post 15 – Animal movement control: what the U.S. is doing against H5N1 With over a thousand confirmed outbreaks in dairy herds, the U.S. had to act quickly to contain the spread of H5N1 between states. (1/10)

Post 14 – H5N1: Two New Lineages Challenge Our Surveillance Since 2024, two new lineages of the H5N1 virus have raised concerns in the U.S.: B3.13 and D1.1. Both belong to clade 2.3.4.4b and show unique combinations of genes from less pathogenic avian viruses. (1/15)

Post 13 – Segregated Animal Health Measures Against H5N1 Require Enhanced Surveillance