A second version of bird flu is infecting cows. What does that mean?
www.sciencenews.org
While the risk to humans of exposure from cows or milk remains low, this new flu spillover from birds into cows raises the need for continued surveillance.

The same version of the bird flu that has caused the most serious human illnesses in North America has now turned up in dairy cows. Cattle in Nevada tested positive for the H5N1 viral variant D1.1, which has been circulating in poultry and wild birds. It’s the first time this version has been detected in dairy cattle, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced February 5.

For about a year, a different H5N1 variant called B3.13 has been wreaking havoc among dairy cattle in the United States. Nearly 1,000 herds across 16 states have tested positive for H5N1. Cow infections led to 40 of the 67 confirmed human cases of highly pathogenic avian influenza in the United States since early 2024, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. None were caused by human-to-human transmission.

Most human infections have been in farm workers who presented mild symptoms, such as pink eye, fever and a cough. Two serious cases arose late last year, in a Louisiana man over the age of 65 and a Canadian 13-year-old girl. The Louisiana man became the first person in the U.S. to die with H5N1, while the Canadian teen is now in recovery. Both patients caught the D1.1 version of the virus, the one newly identified in cows.

  • pelespiritOPMEnglish
    2·
    15 hours ago

    They’re saying it subtly, but they’re concerned that it’s going to mutate because there is a lot more exposure than they thought was happening.

    The Louisiana man became the first person in the U.S. to die with H5N1, while the Canadian teen is now in recovery. Both patients caught the D1.1 version of the virus, the one newly identified in cows.

    But we have seen more severe human illness with the D1.1. I do worry that the clinical presentation in [dairy] workers and other people exposed to the dairy cows or their products could be different and potentially more severe.

    We don’t know yet what kind of presentation we’re going to see in the cows. If [many copies of the D1.1 virus are] in the milk, then we could have those same splash exposures in the milking parlor [as seen with the B3.13 version].

    Also, the current administration is shutting all kinds of watchdogs down, who the fuck knows if we’ll catch a new pandemic before it hits hard.