Genomic analysis suggests that the outbreak probably began in December or January, but a shortage of data is hampering efforts to pin down the source.

A strain of highly pathogenic avian influenza has been silently spreading in US cattle for months, according to preliminary analysis of genomic data. The outbreak is likely to have begun when the virus jumped from an infected bird into a cow, probably around late December or early January. This implies a protracted, undetected spread of the virus — suggesting that more cattle across the United States, and even in neighbouring regions, could have been infected with avian influenza than currently reported.

  • Corkyskog
    3·
    7 months ago

    This might be a dumb question, but how does this have a predicted 50% mortality rate in mammals, but the cows aren’t dropping dead left or right?

    Idk if the 50% is accurate, but I see it keep getting repeated.

      • Corkyskog
        1·
        7 months ago

        How could they possibly know that when those numbers were thrown around before a large enough sample size has caught it?

        I am not even aware of 30 human cases to date.