Livestock

The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) today confirmed 62 more avian flu outbreaks in dairy cattle, all involving California herds. The latest detections lift the state’s total since the end of August to 398 and the national total to 612.

California is the nation’s largest dairy producer, and outbreaks in the Central Valley have now affected nearly one-third of the state’s estimated 1,300 herd.

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H5N1 bird flu is evolving to better infect mammals, CDC study suggests Rising H5N1 bird flu cases in the U.S. prompted the CDC to study the virus in ferrets, revealing it may have the potential to spread and cause severe symptoms in other mammals. Kamal Nahas Live Science

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Oregon identifies 3 human cases of bird flu in farm workers from Washington state Bird flu has infected three more people from Washington state after they were exposed to poultry that tested positive for the virus, according to health authorities in Washington and in Oregon, where the human cases were identified. Tom Polansek Reuters

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Exclusive: Emails Reveal How Health Departments Struggle To Track Human Cases of Bird Flu - KFF Health News Emails show how health officials struggle to track the bird flu, partly in deference to the agricultural industry. As a result, researchers don’t know how often farmworkers are being infected — and could miss alarming signals. kffhnamym KFF Health News

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