New Strain of Bird Flu Found for 1st Time in U.S. Dairy Cattle, Nevada Herds Infected
By Dave Mason | The Center Square
(Worthy News) – A second kind of bird flu has been detected for the first time in U.S. dairy cattle.
The strain was found in several herds in Nevada, the U.S. Department of Agriculture reported Wednesday.
The herds were in Nye and Churchill counties and were quarantined, according to the Nevada Department of Agriculture.
The strain, which is genotype D1.1 of the H5N1 bird flu, was confirmed Jan. 31, the USDA said. It was found in milk as part of a national surveillance program that started in December.
D1.1 is a genotype that was found during the fall and winter in wild birds, mammals and domestic poultry.
The risk to public health is low, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Previous bird flu found in U.S. dairy cattle have been associated with genotype B3.13, which the CDC said has infected 959 of the nation’s dairy herds as of Thursday.
The USDA said it was continuing to work with the Nevada Department of Agriculture to better understand the D1.1 strain and how to limit its spread.
Bird flu can be transmitted from infected birds to other animals and potentially humans directly from the birds, virus-contaminated environments or an infected animal, according to the CDC.
“We cannot stress enough how important it is to keep equipment clean, practice good animal health safety practices and bolster biosecurity measures to prevent the spread of the disease,” Dr. J.J. Goicoechea, director of the Nevada Department of Agriculture and a veterinarian, said on the department’s website.
Pasteurized milk, which is the kind typically sold in stores and consumed in the U.S., does not transmit the virus to humans, according to federal agencies. The CDC, the Food and Drug Administration, and the USDA have warned consumers against drinking raw milk.
The bird flu outbreak, which has hit wild birds, poultry and dairy cattle and ignited a hike in egg prices, started in 2022. Since then, all 50 states have reported infections, according to Newsweek.
Since April 2024, the CDC has confirmed genotype B3.13 infections in 67 people in the U.S.
There has been one human death in the U.S. The genotype in that infection was D1.1, according to a CDC report.
The person, whose death was reported Jan. 6, was a Louisiana patient over 65 with underlying medical conditions, according to the state’s Department of Health.The department said the patient contracted H5N1 after being exposed to a mix of non-commercial backyard flock and wild birds.
As of Thursday, more than 156 million poultry have been found to be infected in the U.S., the CDC reported. As of Wednesday, infections have been found in 11,627 wild birds.