April 18, 2017 – 5:00 p.m. (Reception 4:30)
“Beads of Destruction: A Survey of Great Lakes Plastic Pollution”
Sherri Mason, Professor of Chemistry, SUNY Fredonia
Condensed Abstract: Highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) virus, subtype H5N1, was first detected in poultry in November 1996 in southeast China, and the first human deaths from the virus were recorded in Hong Kong in 1997. The virus spread to the rest of the Asian continent, Africa and Europe, and in its wake left millions of dead poultry, 850 infected people, 449 human fatalities and billions of dollars in economic damage. Nearly 20 years later, in 2015, HPAI subtype H5N2 appeared in the United States, caused the death or depopulation of 48 million poultry, and cost the Federal government almost a billion dollars. This lecture will provide an anatomy of the H5N1 pandemic and the H5N2 epidemic: how they happened, how they were contained, and how they might offer clues to preventing future avian influenza virus outbreaks.