Nevada dairy cows were infected with a new form of bird influence which is distinct from the version that has spread through the herds in the last year, has announced the Department of Agriculture of the United States on Wednesday.
The discovery indicates that the virus, known as H5n1, has spread from birds in cows at least twice – leading to these two series of infections – and that it could continue to do so. It also suggests that the virus can involve a persistent risk for cows and people who work closely with them.
Before last year, scientists did not know that the cows were susceptible to this type of influence.
“This is not what someone wanted to see,” said Louise Moncla, an evolutionary biologist who studies avian influence at the University of Pennsylvania. “We must now consider the possibility that cows are more widely sensitive to these viruses than we initially thought.”
The news was announced in a press release of the health inspection service for animals and plants, a division of the Department of Agriculture. Federal agencies have not kept a briefing for avian influenza since President Trump came into office.
The virus that has spread through the nation’s dairies is a version of H5N1 known as B3.13, which has infected more than 950 herds in 16 states. Scientists believe it initially jumped to cows by birds about a year ago, somewhere in Texas Panhandle. That transition took scientists by surprise, and this new one even more.
“I was a bit under the belief that the Mucca bird movement was a rather rare event,” said Richard Webby, an influence expert at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
The fact that it happened again is “a little a” wow “for me”, he added.
Nevada cows were infected with a version of the virus known as D1.1, which spread in wild birds and poultry. Initially it was detected in the milk collected by a Silo as part of a national milk test strategy announced by the USDA at the end of last year.
The form D1.1 of H5N1 has also shown itself dangerous for people. Of the 67 Americans known for having fallen with H5n1 so far, the only one who died has been infected with this version. That person, a resident of the Louisiana more than 65 years old, had edited the sick and dying birds and died in early January.
In November, a 13 -year -old Canadian girl was also infected by the D1.1 virus, but it is not clear where she could have acquired it. Her only risk factor was obesity, but she too fell seriously and was placed on vital support due to the failure of the organs. In the end he recovered.
Avial influence is so called because it is better adapted to infectious birds. But in both these individuals, the virus has obtained mutations during the infection that could allow them to better infect people.
“It is possible that the virus is more permissive for human adaptive mutations,” said Scott Hensley, immunologist at the University of Pennsylvania.
In a reassuring way, the virus did not seem to spread from any of the two people to anyone else. However, its evolution indicated that it was able to acquire the ability to spread efficiently among people.
So far, at least, the spread of D1.1 to the cows “does not change the life of the average person,” said dr. Moncla. But he puts risks for Lattiero -Caseari workers and the dairy industry -casearia, the experts said. It also suggests the possibility that the cows already infected once with B.3.13 can get sick with a second time with D1.1, said dr. Webby.
“It’s no longer a single virus,” he said. “This, for me, suggests that it will be a persistent problem.”
Since January 2022, when H5N1 was detected in wild aquatic birds in the United States, the virus has affected over 153 million commercial birds, courtyard and wild, with consequent record prices on eggs.
He also affected dozens of mammal species, including wild and unstressed cats, procues, bears and marine lions.