Nicoletta Lanese is the health channel editor at Live Science and was previously a news editor and staff writer at the site. She holds a graduate certificate in science communication from UC Santa Cruz and degrees in neuroscience and dance from the University of Florida.
A bird flu virus called H5N1 recently infected animals that it had never been seen in before: goats and cows.Here's what we know so far about these unusual cases of H5N1 in the U.S.What is H5N1 bird flu?H5N1 is a subtype of avian influenza A, a broad group of related bird flu viruses. It's categorized as a form of"highly pathogenic" avian influenza, or HPAI, because it causes severe and fatal disease in poultry.
Which animals can H5N1 infect?H5N1 most often infects domestic and wild birds, although some wild birds act as"reservoirs" for the virus, meaning they can carry and spread it without getting sick. These carriers include waterfowl, such as ducks, geese and swans; and shorebirds, such as plovers and sandpipers, the CDC says.
The agency has confirmed that the specific strain of H5N1 infecting cows in additional states appears very similar to the strain found in Texas and Kansas cattle. This strain matches one introduced to the U.S. by wild birds — known as clade 2.3.4.4b — back in 2021. Before that, the strain had spread mostly in Europe, Asia and Africa.
Most often, human H5N1 infections occur after a person had close or lengthy unprotected contact — without gloves, a face mask or eye protection — with infected birds or with objects contaminated with sick birds' saliva, mucus or poop. These cases have not been tied to sustained human-to-human spread of the virus, but there's been some evidence of very limited spread between people.
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