More work needs to be done by the agricultural sector to get to the bottom of — and put a stop to — transmission of H5N1 bird flu in dairy cattle in the United States, a senior World Health Organization official said over the weekend.
The viral sequence was uploaded Friday to the GISAID database, which makes genetic sequences of viruses publicly available for research and study. It shows that the virus is closely related to the strain that has been infecting dairy cattle in 14 states this year.
...some dairy workers ...said they haven’t received any personal protective equipment beyond gloves to guard against the virus, even as they or colleagues have come down with conjunctivitis and flu-like symptoms that they fear to be bird flu.
New research into the ongoing bird flu outbreaks on dairy farms describes in unprecedented detail how efficiently the virus has spread among cows, and from cows to other mammals, including cats and a raccoon.
