Bird Flu in Raw Cow Milk Has Killed Farm Cats in a Concerning First

[gary]

In a 1st May 2024 report by Carly Casella at sciencealert.com, there has been a concerning development with bird flu in the US.

On March 25, the US Department of Agriculture reported the first confirmed case of bird flu ever identified among cows.

Several dairy farms in Kansas and Texas were affected, and later, their cows carried the virus to Michigan, Idaho, and Ohio when they were transported interstate.

A dozen cats on a dairy farm in Texas that drank unpasteurized milk from the cows fell sick and died.

Officials have assured the public that drinking pasteurized dairy milk will not expose them to the virus.
The Food and Drug Agency is carrying out extensive milk product tests, and it has detected no signs of the virus as of yet.

Cows in the US that are sick with bird flu are producing thick and syrupy milk, but perhaps this symptom isn't as apparent in the early days of illness.

But the case of the cats suggests that bird flu can jump from mammal to mammal, which may make the contagion harder to control.
Even among cows, experts still aren't sure how the virus is transmitted.

Meanwhile, authorities have been racing to curb further spread of the virus in dairy cattle, which is believed to have been spreading from cow-to-cow since a single initial spillover from wild birds earlier this year.

"Ingestion of feed contaminated with feces from wild birds infected with HPAI virus is presumed to be the most likely initial source of infection in the dairy farms," according to the CDC.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture said Monday it would test ground beef sold at retailers for H5N1 and would study how cooking beef could curb potential risk posed by the virus, in the wake of an earlier order ramping up testing on dairy cattle being shipped over state lines.

It is unclear whether any ground beef samples have so far tested positive for the virus.
Results "are forthcoming" and will be shared when available, the spokesperson said.

Story here :-
https://www.sciencealert.com/bird-fl...ncerning-first

Story at Nature "Bird flu virus has been spreading among US cows for months, RNA reveals" :-
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-01256-5

Story at CBS "More than half of cats died after drinking raw milk from bird flu-infected cows" :-
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/cats-di...infected-cows/

[gary]

Originally Posted by Arianna Johnson, Forbes magazine

Bird flu outbreaks have affected 34 dairy cow herds across nine states, causing some to question whether the use of contaminated poultry litter as cow feed may be the source of transmission, though experts say not enough is known to draw this conclusion.

Poultry litter (also known as chicken or broiler litter) is a mixture of chicken feces, feathers and bedding materials like sawdust, peanut hulls and pine shavings sweeped up from chicken coops, and typically used as a fertilizer and as feed for cattle

Poultry litter is used as feed among cattle because it’s a cheap source of protein, and an inexpensive way to dispose of the waste, according to the Department of Animal Sciences at the University of Missouri. The FDA initially discouraged the use of poultry litter as feed in 1967, but rescinded this suggestion in 1980 after extensive research was conducted and left the decision up to state governments.

Story at Forbes "Is Chicken Feces Behind The Bird Flu Outbreaks In Cows?" :-
https://www.forbes.com/sites/arianna...h=aab40808ed33

[Davros (Lauren)]

It’s certainly concerning

[By.Jove (Jove)]

... and the US has been sitting on it quietly.

It can infect humans and the fatality rate is 53%. Scary, especially if you are a farmer or like to eat raw or rare beef (beef carpaccio, anyone ?)

https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/...01-p5fo29.html

[gary]

Australia's ABC 7:30 Report on HPAI (Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza)
H5N1 clade 2.3.4.4b "bird flu" in Antarctica killing birds in the region.

Elsewhere in the world, it has killed mammalian species.

In Peru, at least 40% of the native pelican population has been wiped out and 10% of the sea lions in South America have died from it.

In poultry, some of the worst outbreaks have been recorded in the United States.
The Centre for Disease Control estimates total losses exceeding 90 million chickens and turkeys across 48 states.

A narrative with photo and embedded video content :-

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-05-...reak/103844240

[gary]

23 May 2024

Two different strains of avian influenza — also known as "bird flu" — have
been detected in Victoria :-

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-05-...know/103881608

Bird flu strain H7N3 detected on Victorian farm, hundreds of thousands of chickens euthanased :-

https://www.abc.net.au/news/rural/20...farm/103877560

[gary]

In a 5 June 2024 article at the University of California Davis, Kat Kerlin reports on a study, published as a preprint and co-led by University of California, Davis’ School of Veterinary Medicine and the National Institute of Agricultural Technology (INTA) in Argentina, which shows clear mammal-to-mammal transmission of H5N1 avian influenza viruses.

It states a massive outbreak among elephant seals in Argentina in 2023 is the first known, multinational transmission of the virus in mammals ever observed globally, with the same virus appearing in several pinniped species across different countries over a short period of time.

Originally Posted by Kat Kerlin, UC Davis 5 June 2024

“We’re showing the evolution of this marine mammal virus over time,” said virologist and co-leading author Agustina Rimondi of INTA. “This virus is capable of adapting to mammals, as we can see from the mutations that are consistently found in the viruses belonging to the mammalian clade.”

Influenza viruses commonly mutate and exchange gene segments, enabling them to adapt to new hosts.

Uhart and Rimondi said it is critically important that monitoring and investigation continue to better understand the consequences of the virus to human health, wildlife conservation and ecology.

Story here :-
https://www.ucdavis.edu/health/news/...apting-mammals

[gary]

6 June 2024

WHO reports a man in Mexico has died from the H5N2 avian flu strain.
This particular strain has never been found in a human before.

This is different to the H5N1 avian flu strain found evolving in the sea lions
as reported per the previous post.

Story here :-
https://www.theguardian.com/world/ar...lu-strain-h5n2

[Davros (Lauren)]

Those articles also mention extensive mammal to mammal teams in those populations which is extremely concerning for us. If it makes the jumps into humans.

[gary]

Originally Posted by Davros

Those articles also mention extensive mammal to mammal teams in those populations which is extremely concerning for us. If it makes the jumps into humans.

Where the UC Davis story states :-

Originally Posted by Kat Kerlin, UC Davis, 5 June 2024

In October 2023, following outbreaks in sea lions, the study authors surveyed a breeding colony of elephant seals at Punta Delgada along the coast of Península Valdés, Argentina. They recorded unprecedented mass mortality — some 17,000 elephant seals were dead. By November, 96% of pups born that season would die. Test results confirmed that HPAI H5N1 was present in the seals as well as in several terns that died at the same time.

The virus’ separation into avian and marine mammal clades unfolded as H5N1 clade 2.3.4.4b — specifically genotype B3.2 — arrived on the continent through migratory birds before spilling over to mammals. It then separated from the avian clade virus to become its own, marine mammal-adapted virus. Concerningly, while the virus moves across pinnipeds, it can also still infect birds. That was evident in the study, where the virus found in terns was identical to that from elephant seals.

“We’re showing the evolution of this marine mammal virus over time,” said virologist and co-leading author Agustina Rimondi of INTA. “This virus is capable of adapting to mammals, as we can see from the mutations that are consistently found in the viruses belonging to the mammalian clade.”

is a real concern

Meanwhile, in a scramble, billions of dollars are being spent on alternate
ways to manufacture vaccines that might be used in the event of a bird
flu outbreak in humans and with the scenario that with hens wiped out,
there may not be enough fertilized chicken eggs for vaccine production :-

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/bird-fl...-alternatives/