A version of the H5N1 bird flu virus that killed a person in Louisiana and seriously exploded a teenager in Canada has now been detected in dairy herds in Nevada. The version, known as D1.1, circulates in wild birds across the country – causing massive deaths in places like Chicago, Upstate New York and Ohio.
The Inspection Service for Animals and Plants of the Health of Animals and Plants of American Agriculture confirmed the observation on Wednesday.
It is different from the version circulating in dairy cows, which only caused a relatively sweet disease in humans, although it killed dozens of domestic and wild cats. The two versions belong to the H5N1 virus family – each with slightly different stories and genetic structures.
Finding the D1.1 in dairy cows attracted investigators to the end, but this is only the last surprise because the H5N1 bird flu continues to make researchers and public health officials. It is a brutal reminder that this virus does not behave like a “typical” flu virus.
“I cannot insist too much about what is a big problem,” said John Korslund, a former USDA scientist, in an email. “It's really … which takes place in a nightmare scenario. We do not know how widespread this version of the virus.
Richard Webby, influenza researcher in the Department of Infectious Diseases of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tenn., Said that he thinks that the results should not change the risk prospects for the general population, this will affect the dairy industry.
Anja Raudabaugh, CEO of Western United Dairies – A California Dairy Trade Group – said that the discovery was “extraordinary” and should exacerbate the industry about the virus, which it described as already “very high”. She hopes that it will force federal officials to work on a cattle vaccine “as soon as possible” to stop or slow down the spread of the disease between cows.
“My farmers do not want to go through another summer with this virus,” she said.
Most researchers thought there was a singular contact event between a bird infected with H5N1 B3.13 and a dairy cow in Texas Panhandle at the end of 2023. This interaction led to an epidemic which has now affected more than 950 herds in 16 states and 67 sick people, including 40 dairy.
But this new discovery suggests that such an event was not a single -off – and that we can see more events for the spill of these wild birds in cattle.
“I think many of us, of which myself, thought that the first introduction was somehow a stroke of luck,” said Seema Lakdawala, microbiologist at Emory University in Atlanta. But, she added, the discovery of D1.1 in dairy cows “clearly means that other bird viruses can enter the cows”.
The virus was discovered following the USDA's national milk test programwhich requires milk tests in 38 states, including Nevada, where the herds infected with version D1.1 have been found.
Researchers are still trying to determine exactly how nevada cows have been infected. A theory has to do with non -native European starlings, which state officials have described in a press release on infected cattle as a “harmful population” which spreads disease and contaminates food sources and water for animals, presenting them at risk of bird flu. That said, Tanya Espinosa, a USDA spokesperson, said the agency had found H5N1 in any Starling in Nevada.
In any case, as these viruses circulate and jump between birds and cows, they can collect new lines, potentially allowing viruses to spread more easily and make the animals they infect sick.
Korslund said that the discovery raises several questions that epidemiologists and health officials will have to address: how will it affect dairy? Dairy cows and cows in fattening park? How about another cattle, like sWine, sheep, goats and horses? What symptoms should farmers and veterinarians be looking for? The milk tests and the reports will now require fields for both versions of the virus? Will the herds that have been infected with B3.13 have immunity to D1.1?
And he worries about the political climate, and the appetite that the Trump administration will have to approach this epidemic.
“So many unanswered questions about how this tension will behave in cattle,” he said. “We may have to hope that Canada is doing research because our federal researchers seem to be temporarily paralyzed by the political process.”
However, he urged health officials to start testing livestock – not just dairy cows – in places with agricultural operations densely located, as in Ohio, where since January 1, H5N1 (supposed to be D1.1) has been found in 40 commercial poultry farms in an area with two countries.
“The entire livestock population in the region should now be detected to sort sensitivity and viral accommodation, taking into account the circumstances,” said Korslund.
But of all his concerns, it is the agricultural workers of the viral battlefate about who he is most concerned.
“No attentive public health personnel can currently in all conscience recommend that the farm guards, undocumented, depopulation employees or herd employees be tested, knowing that ice could present themselves to test sites to demand the verification of citizenship,” he wrote. “Better to push the Tamiflu and recommend staying at home a day or two … All workers' testing initiatives have died in the water and viral isolates will not be monitored for genomic changes by public health officials.”
