Bird flu spreads in North America, globally – The Western Producer

REUTERS The ongoing U.S. outbreak of avian flu in dairy cattle reached Minnesota last week as the state announced its first infected herd.

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More than 80 dairy herds have been infected with the virus across 11 states since late March, and three dairy workers have tested positive for the virus.

The Minnesota Board of Animal Health said the farmer of the affected herd reported more than 40 cows with signs of fever. The animals were tested and the U.S. Department of Agricultures National Veterinary Services Laboratories confirmed the positive test.

We knew it was only a matter of time before this detection would reach our doorstep, said Brian Hoefs, the state veterinarian, in a statement. Its important for dairy farmers to follow the example of this herd and test sick cows.

The other states with infected herds include Idaho, Colorado, South Dakota, Kansas, New Mexico, Texas, Michigan, Ohio, Iowa and North Carolina.

Dairy cows with avian flu have died or been slaughtered by farmers after not recovering, Reuters reported. The U.S. Department of Agriculture said most cows recover.

A 59-year-old man with underlying health conditions died in a Mexico City hospital on April 24 from complications due to contracting A[H5N2] strain of bird flu, according to the World Health Organization. The man reportedly had not been exposed to poultry or other animals.

The bird flu virus strain that infected a Texas dairy farm worker in March was lethal to ferrets in experiments designed to mimic the disease in humans, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported. Seasonal flu, by contrast, makes ferrets sick but does not kill them, the CDC said.

Ferrets are considered the best small mammal for studying influenza virus infection and transmission and are commonly used as a tool to inform public health risk assessments of emerging influenza viruses, according to the CDC.

The strain of avian influenza virus found in Texas spread easily among healthy ferrets when they were placed in direct contact with infected ferrets, the researchers found.

The virus was less efficient than other influenza strains at spread by respiratory droplets, however.

This suggests viruses like this one would need to undergo changes to spread efficiently by droplets through the air, such as from coughs and sneezes, the CDC said.

Bird flu has been found in seals in the United Kingdom, Denmark and Germany.

The EU recently signed a contract to secure more than 40 million doses of a preventive avian flu vaccine for 15 countries. The first shipments will go to Finland.

The deal secures up to 665,000 doses from vaccine manufacturer CSL Seqirus and includes an option for a further 40 million vaccines for a maximum of four years.

There were no active cases in humans or in cattle in the EU as of early June, according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.

Transmission to humans remains a rare event and no sustained transmission between humans has been observed so far, it said in a weekly report for June 1-7.

The risk of zoonotic influenza transmission to the general public in EU/EEA countries is considered to be low.

The World Health Organization recently said the child with H5N1 bird flu reported by Australia last month had traveled to Kolkata, India, and the family said they did not have any known exposure to infected people or animals while there.

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Bird flu spreads in North America, globally - The Western Producer