Latest news with #LouiseMoncla
Yahoo
10-02-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
New Strain of Bird Flu in Nevada Reveals a Concerning Mutation
An emerging strain of highly pathogenic avian influenza has spilled over from wild birds to dairy cows in the state of Nevada, and officials at the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) and some scientists are concerned by a mutation they are seeing. The viral variant, called genotype D1.1, is different to the strain that first started infecting dairy cows in Texas in March of 2023, called B3.13, which has wreaked havoc across nearly 1,000 herds in the US so far. D1.1 is the "current predominant genotype in migratory wild birds", according to the USDA, and it is responsible for a few serious human cases of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI). These include a near-fatal case involving a teen in Canada and the first and only human death related to bird flu in North America thus far, involving a person over the age of 65 from Louisiana. Until now, D1.1 had not jumped from birds to cows. "This is not what anyone wanted to see," evolutionary biologist Louise Moncla from the University of Pennsylvania told The New York Times reporters Emily Anthes and Apoorva Mandavilli. "We need to now consider the possibility that cows are more broadly susceptible to these viruses than we initially thought." The virus identified in Nevada dairy cattle is closely related to those in migratory wild birds, but it showed a key mutation that may make it easier to replicate inside of mammalian cells. The adaptation is not found in the B3.13 genotype, but it has been found in some human cases of bird flu. "Investigations are ongoing to fully characterize this event," reads the USDA brief. "The Nevada Department of Agriculture acted quickly, by first rapidly enrolling in the National Milk Testing Strategy to initiate active surveillance, and then to identify and quarantine the affected dairies before cattle movements could further transmit this virus beyond the local area." The National Milk Testing Strategy was set up by the USDA in December 2024 by Federal Order to monitor the spread of avian influenza among dairy cows across the country, and to stop infected milk or dairy cows from moving between states. But cows in Nevada didn't get sick from an out-of-state neighbor. The threat probably came from above. While these cows can infect humans, especially via their milk, there is still no evidence that the H5N1 virus can spread from human to human, and for now, officials at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have deemed the risk to most people low. That said, some scientists and public health officials, including those at the World Health Organization (WHO), are taking the idea of a future human pandemic seriously, and they are watching the H5N1 mutations very carefully. Recently, some virologists have claimed the risk of a human pandemic from HPAI is rising as the pathogen spends more time in mammal bodies. While it's true that genotype D1.1 has caused more severe human cases than B3.13, influenza virologist Seema Lakdawala from Emory University told Max Kozlov at Nature in late January these are small sample sizes that we can't learn much from. At least 66 human cases of bird flu have been recorded in the US since 2024, and we still don't know enough about what makes each viral variant more or less dangerous to our species as a whole. The CDC's last statement on the bird flu outbreak was published on January 17, 2025. Given the Trump administration's current freeze on communications from some federal health agencies, it is unknown if or when the CDC will address the newly identified spillover event in Nevada. The USDA says it will continue sharing its data with the CDC and the National Center for Biotechnology Information within seven days of analysis. Radical Study Proposes a Single Cause to Explain Alzheimer's Disease Can a Supplement Really Help You Control Your Pesky Eye Floaters? Revealed: Women Face Much Higher Risk of Long COVID, But Why?
CNN
06-02-2025
- Health
- CNN
New bird flu infections in Nevada dairy cattle signal the virus may be here to stay
Six dairy herds in Nevada have tested positive for a newer variant of the H5N1 bird flu virus that's been associated with severe infections in humans, according to the Nevada Department of Agriculture. Scientists say these infections with a different type of virus mark an inflection point in the nation's efforts to contain the virus: It may be here to stay. The strain is not the same one that has been circulating in other dairy herds throughout the United States, a virus called B3.13. The newer version, D1.1, has previously been detected only in birds and in people who had contact with infected birds. This is the first time it has been found in dairy cattle, meaning that these cows caught it from wild birds, instead of another infected herd. This is the second known instance of a type of avian flu being introduced into cattle herds by birds and It suggests the virus could be seeding itself into herds through introductions from wild birds, which are ubiquitous. That could mean the H5N1 infection might become endemic, or continuously circulating, in birds in North America, and that may eventually spell trouble for people, too. 'In my opinion, it is now endemic, and it should be classified as an endemic virus,' said Dr. Louise Moncla, a pathobiologist at the University of Pennsylvania who runs a lab that studies how viruses emerge in human populations and spread. The US Department of Agriculture currently classifies H5N1 as a foreign animal disease, meaning an infectious disease in animals that is not currently present in the United States. In an October news briefing, Dr. Eric Deeble, deputy undersecretary for marketing and regulatory programs at the USDA, said agriculture officials were still confident that H5N1 could be eliminated in the national herd. Experts said repeated infections of cattle by wild birds will make that that possibility more remote. 'It's much easier to control virus spread when you're talking about a virus spreading from cow to cow than controlling spread from birds to cows,' said Dr. Scott Hensley, a microbiologist who studies the evolution of flu viruses at the University of Pennsylvania's Perelman School of Medicine. This isn't the first time the US has had to contend with such a destructive bird flu outbreak. In 2014, highly pathogenic H5N8 bird flu viruses from Europe arrived in North America, resulting in the destruction of more than 50 million commercially farmed birds. This aggressive culling worked. North America remained free from highly pathogenic bird flu viruses for years. Moncla thinks this go-round with the virus will be a different story, however. Moncla and her team recently posted a preprint study on how the H5N1 virus was introduced in North America in late 2021 and quickly found its way onto farms. By studying the evolution of the virus, they determined spread into poultry flocks was driven by somewhere between 46 and 113 different introductions of the virus from wild to farmed birds. Now, she says, with the virus spreading in so many different species of mammals and birds, it is likely to be here to stay. Though all six of the recently infected Nevada herds are located in the same valley, Dr. J.J. Goicoechea, director of the Nevada Department of Agriculture, said that after conversations with the farmers and with his state veterinarian, they believe the infection was introduced separately at each of the dairies by wild birds. Goicoechea said there doesn't seem to be a lot of movement of people or equipment between the dairies, which have been following strict biosecurity protocols. He said the state is working with the US Department of Agriculture on genetic testing to see if there are changes to the virus that might help them understand its spread. D1.1 has been associated with two severe infections in people: a teenager in British Columbia who was hospitalized in critical condition last fall but eventually recovered and a senior in Louisiana who died from their infection in January. Farm workers in Washington state have also tested positive for D1.1 after culling infected poultry. Their symptoms were described as milder. Scientists are studying the D1.1 strain to try to learn more about its capabilities and how it appears to be spreading so aggressively. 'D1.1 was initially found, I believe, in August of 2024 in the Pacific Flyway. It's now in all four flyways, and so we know it's in the environment, but this is the first time it's been documented that D1.1 has been in a dairy cow,' said Goicoechea. The affected dairies have provided the Nevada Department of Health and Human Services with contact information for workers who are being monitored for signs of infection, and they are being offered personal protective equipment, Goicoechea said. To date, no humans have tested positive in connection with the infected herds in Nevada. Notably, the D1.1 infections in cows do not appear to be more severe than B3.13 infections, Goicoechea said. 'We're seeing exactly the same clinical signs,' Goicoechea said. Cows lose their appetite, and their milk production drops. Most recover with veterinary care. 'It's very, very similar signs to what we've seen for really the last year, since this started in Texas and Kansas,' he said. The newly infected Nevada herds were detected on January 31 through a US Department of Agriculture program that is testing milk in large silos across the US. 'Lots of different bulk tanks from different farms can come into one silo. And then they trace it back,' said Dr. Seema Lakdawala, a microbiologist and immunologist at Emory University who has been studying how the H5N1 virus is infecting cows. Lakdawala says the finding raises critical questions about how dairy cattle are being exposed and whether it's possible to contain the H5N1 outbreak, which is rapidly spreading among animals and birds, though health officials say most people are still at low risk from the virus. Since March 2024, H5N1 avian influenza has been detected in 957 herds in 16 states, according to the USDA. There have been 67 infections confirmed in humans in the US, nearly all of them farm workers who had contact with infected animals, according to the CDC. That number is believed to represent a fraction of the true number of human infections, however. A CDC study testing the blood of exposed farmworkers found 7% of them had developed antibodies against the virus, suggested they had previously been infected. Get CNN Health's weekly newsletter Sign up here to get The Results Are In with Dr. Sanjay Gupta every Friday from the CNN Health team. A recent study published in the New England Journal of Medicine on the first 46 documented human infections in the US determined that all had mild symptoms that began with red, inflamed eyes and a fever. None of these first patients who became ill after contact with sick animals was hospitalized. Researchers don't know why most human infections with avian flu in the US — which have primarily been with the B3.13 strain — have been mild. One reason may be that H5N1 is clumsy at infecting people. It prefers to latch onto a certain configuration of a sugar called a sialic acid that's plentiful on the cells of birds. Humans have these kinds of sialic acids, too, but they're relatively rare on cells in the human respiratory tract, which is where flu viruses need to land to make us really ill. Scientists agree that the more H5N1 spreads, the more likely it is to change in ways that could help it get better at infecting people. 'I would say everybody's really interested in D1.1 right now, because it seemingly came out of nowhere and then caused two very severe human infections,' Moncla said. 'So people are quite worried about it.'
Yahoo
05-02-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Second form of bird flu already linked to death of Louisiana senior now detected in dairy cattle
Nevada dairy cows have been infected with a new form of bird flu, the Department of Agriculture announced Wednesday. The news signifies that the H5N1 virus has spilled from birds into cows at least twice. 'This is the first detection of this virus genotype in dairy cattle (all previous detections in dairy cattle have been HPAI H5N1 clade 2.3.4.4b, genotype B3.13). Genotype D1.1 represents the predominant genotype in the North American flyways this past fall and winter and has been identified in wild birds, mammals, and spillovers into domestic poultry,' the department said. The findings were the result of state tracing and investigation. The department said it was working with officials to better understand the detection and limit additional spread. 'This is not what anyone wanted to see,' Louise Moncla, an evolutionary biologist who studies avian influenza at the University of Pennsylvania, told The New York Times. 'We need to now consider the possibility that cows are more broadly susceptible to these viruses than we initially thought.' Until now, all H5N1 detections have involved the B3.13 genotype, which has been linked to mild infections in dairy workers. The D1.1 genotype has also been implicated in human infections, including a death in a Louisiana resident over the age of 65. In November, a 13-year-old Canadian girl also was stricken with the virus and became seriously ill before she recovered. The department has tracked 957 confirmed cases in cattle across 16 states. Infections have been reported in animals across the U.S., and millions of birds have been affected. Culling birds that were exposed has resulted in sky high egg prices. Human-to-human transmission has yet to be reported and officials have asserted that the risk to the public remains low. However, federal agencies have not held a briefing on bird flu since President Donald Trump took office. "We shouldn't be surprised about a new spillover to cattle, given the very significant activity in waterfowl across much of the United States,' University of Minnesota's Dr. Michael Osterholm, told CIDRAP News.
Yahoo
05-02-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Second form of bird flu already linked to death of Louisiana senior now detected in dairy cattle
Nevada dairy cows have been infected with a new form of bird flu, the Department of Agriculture announced Wednesday. The news signifies that the H5N1 virus has spilled from birds into cows at least twice. 'This is the first detection of this virus genotype in dairy cattle (all previous detections in dairy cattle have been HPAI H5N1 clade 2.3.4.4b, genotype B3.13). Genotype D1.1 represents the predominant genotype in the North American flyways this past fall and winter and has been identified in wild birds, mammals, and spillovers into domestic poultry,' the department said. The findings were the result of state tracing and investigation. The department said it was working with officials to better understand the detection and limit additional spread. 'This is not what anyone wanted to see,' Louise Moncla, an evolutionary biologist who studies avian influenza at the University of Pennsylvania, told The New York Times. 'We need to now consider the possibility that cows are more broadly susceptible to these viruses than we initially thought.' Until now, all H5N1 detections have involved the B3.13 genotype, which has been linked to mild infections in dairy workers. The D1.1 genotype has also been implicated in human infections, including a death in a Louisiana resident over the age of 65. The department has tracked 957 confirmed cases in cattle across 16 states. "We shouldn't be surprised about a new spillover to cattle, given the very significant activity in waterfowl across much of the United States,' University of Minnesota's Dr. Michael Osterholm, told CIDRAP News. This is a breaking news story. Please check back for updates.
The Independent
05-02-2025
- Health
- The Independent
Second form of bird flu already linked to death of Louisiana senior now detected in dairy cattle
Nevada dairy cows have been infected with a new form of bird flu, the Department of Agriculture announced Wednesday. The news signifies that the H5N1 virus has spilled from birds into cows at least twice. 'This is the first detection of this virus genotype in dairy cattle (all previous detections in dairy cattle have been HPAI H5N1 clade 2.3.4.4b, genotype B3.13). Genotype D1.1 represents the predominant genotype in the North American flyways this past fall and winter and has been identified in wild birds, mammals, and spillovers into domestic poultry,' the department said. The findings were the result of state tracing and investigation. 'This is not what anyone wanted to see,' Louise Moncla, an evolutionary biologist who studies avian influenza at the University of Pennsylvania, told The New York Times. 'We need to now consider the possibility that cows are more broadly susceptible to these viruses than we initially thought.'
