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Not Good Viral News [1]
['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']
Date: 2025-02-05
A dairy herd in Nevada has been infected with the strain of H5N1 that is mostly being passed in birds, the same one that killed the gentleman in Louisiana, and kept a Canadian teen in the ICU for over a month. This is clearly an independent spillover event, unlike all the other dairy herd infections being passed around by people and equipment. This was detected by milk testing conducted Jan. 31.
Until now, federal officials have thought of the current dairy outbreak as the result of a single spillover event, which likely occurred from the virus jumping from wild birds to cows in Texas, possibly sometime in late 2023. The virus then swiftly moved through dairy farms and across state lines as people, equipment, and animals moved around. Health experts worldwide have been appalled by the inability of US officials to halt the single-source transmission as more and more herds have continued to test positive. Now, with a second introduction of the virus, hopes are likely dashed that containment is possible. Ars Technica
Up to this point I had been using mnemonics to keep the poultry and dairy clades apart in my head: bovine for the B3.13 genotype in cows and duck for the D1.1 genotype in wild birds and poultry. Goodbye memory aid.
It remains to be seen whether this strain will be any harder on the cows (and barn cats) than the B3 strain, or if it will morph yet again while spreading. But the B3 infections in dairy workers have been fairly mild, whether the clade was inherently milder or because it was being attenuated by passing through contact infection. If the D1 strain passes from cows to dairy workers, it might not be so mild.
Aaaaaand, the communications freeze on public health agencies is now two weeks old. Yes, this IS unprecedented.
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