United States: Public reports from the Nevada Department of Agriculture identify that the H5N1 bird flu virus spread to six dairy herds throughout Nevada by a changed variant that mainly impacts human communities.
More about the news
Scientific experts concur that newly identified viral infections represent a crucial juncture in virus control because the virus might permanently integrate into the nation.
The current facility has been infected by Virus Strain B3.13, which stands out from all other known dairy herd viruses across the nation. D1.1 exists strictly within the taxonomic group of birds together with other infected persons who regularly handle birds.
A new type of bird flu has been detected in dairy cattle in Nevada, according to the USDA. The strain is different from the version that has spread in U.S. herds since last year. https://t.co/Ok4Mn6hHGQ
— FOX 29 (@FOX29philly) February 6, 2025
What more are the experts stating?
Experts have identified dairy cattle infection as a novel discovery because these cows acquired the virus directly from wild birds instead of receiving it from other infected dairy herds.
Wild birds have transmitted infection into cattle herds for a second documented occurrence of avian flu transmission in this way.
Researchers suspect wild birds continuously introduce the virus to cattle since they are present everywhere.H5N1 infection shows potential to establish itself as an endemic threat within North American bird populations until it presents risks to human health.
According to Dr. Louise Moncla, a pathobiologist at the University of Pennsylvania who runs a lab that studies how viruses emerge in human populations and spread, “In my opinion, it is now endemic, and it should be classified as an endemic virus” CNN Health reported.
Under US Department of Agriculture guidelines, H5N1 is identified as a foreign animal disease since it functions as a transmissible animal disease absent from US territory.
A news briefing in October of 2015 revealed USDA agriculture representatives expressed faith that H5N1 could be completely eliminated from all US cattle.
Experts predict repeated bird infections of cattle will decrease the possibility of eliminating the disease from the national herd.
The United States has already experienced similar destructive bird flu outbreaks previously.
Furthermore, as per Dr. Scott Hensley, a microbiologist who studies the evolution of flu viruses at the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine, “It’s much easier to control virus spread when you’re talking about a virus spreading from cow to cow than controlling spread from birds to cows,” CNN Health reported.
The 2014 arrival of pathogenic H5N8 bird flu from Europe to North America caused commercial facilities to destroy over 50 million birds.