CIDRAP: "Contaminated meat likely source of avian flu that killed bush dogs in UK zoo, preprint suggests"

'Likely' is an interesting choice. Let's take a look at the alternative transmission possibilities noted in the study:

* scavenging of wild bird carcases/sick wild birds landing in the un-netted pen
* indirect contact (e.g., wild bird faeces)

Both of these possibilities can involve bioaerosols

"Wild bird activity was observed on the site during epidemiological investigations"

(Cont.) 🧵

The study's basis for suggesting that it was foodborne includes the speed of onset, but that isn't necessarily an airtight conclusion. Notably, the airways of the dogs were infected, which means airborne transmission was entirely possible. Dogs are also, like many animals, messy eaters, and it is possible that infected particles from scavenged birds -- like fecal aerosols -- were inhaled during the process of consumption

The reason this is important to point out is because H5N1 would require some significant mutations to become foodborne (and thus survive gastric acid), while its capability as an airborne pathogen is already thoroughly demonstrated across animal species