Experts Warn of Potential Bird Flu Pandemic in US Cattle
A new wave of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI), also known as bird flu, is spreading across all 50 US states, prompting health experts to urge early pandemic preparedness. While the virus primarily affects wild and farm birds, its recent detection in mammals like cattle and goats has raised zoonotic concerns. The U.S. CDC and […]
Is Raw Milk Safe? Here’s What to Know
Remember the days when you didn’t know what raw milk was (and didn’t need to)? Well, those are over: raw—or unpasteurized—milk has been in the news for months. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, is an ardent supporter of raw milk; at the same time, […]
US orders bird flu testing of national dairy supply
The US national milk supply will begin being tested for bird flu, according to a new federal order announced on Friday by the Department of Agriculture. As part of the mandate, entities and firms that handle raw milk – such as dairy processors – must collect samples to share with agriculture officials. The announcement comes […]
WHO confirms human case of bird flu in India
(Reuters)-The World Health Organization on Tuesday said a case of human infection with bird flu caused by the H9N2 virus was detected in a four-year-old child in the eastern Indian state of West Bengal. The patient was admitted to the pediatric intensive care unit (ICU) of a local hospital due to persistent severe respiratory issues, […]
US dairy cows are tip of the iceberg as bird flu spreads in mammals globally, says ecologist
Health authorities are working to gather information on the spread of the H5N1 virus, or bird flu, in U.S. dairy cows—the first confirmation of the virus in cattle. “We have moved into new territory,” says Thomas Gillespie, professor and chair of Emory University’s Department of Environmental Sciences. The dairy cow infections are simply the latest […]
Bird Flu (H5N1) Explained: Study Suggests Drinking Infected Milk Could Spread Disease
Here’s the latest news about a global outbreak of H5N1 bird flu that started in 2020, and recently spread among cattle in U.S. states and marine mammals across the world, which has health officials closely monitoring it and experts concerned the virus could mutate and eventually spread to humans, where it has proven rare but […]
Second human case of bird flu linked to dairy cows found in Michigan
A second person in the U.S. has been infected with bird flu linked to dairy cows, the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services reported Wednesday. The person, a farmworker who had regular exposure to infected livestock, had mild symptoms and has recovered, the health department said. “The current health risk to the general public remains low,” Dr. Natasha […]
Will cattle be the next lab for flu host-switching?
Cattle have so far not been associated with being infected on large-scale, and as a result, cattle have not been well studied as domestic hosts for influenza A virus species. In contrast to the notion that cattle are considered to be almost resistant to infection with influenza A virus, H5N1 virus, which was first detected […]
Cats died after drinking raw milk from bird flu-infected cows
More than half of cats around the first Texas dairy farm to test positive for bird flu this spring died after drinking raw milk from the infected cows, scientists reported this week, offering a window into a toll the virus has taken during its unprecedented spread through the cattle industry. The report, published Tuesday in the […]