February 6, 2025
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.
Director of the Nevada Department of Agriculture, Dr. J.J. Goicoechea, concerning a new strain of bird flu found in dairy cows, which was announced by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Why It Matters: Six dairy herds in Nevada tested positive for a new variant (D1.1) of the bird flu, according to the Nevada Department of Agriculture. This marks the first time the variant has been found in dairy cattle; previously it had only been found in birds and people who have had contact with infected birds. Scientists say the herds caught the new variant from wild, infected birds. Meanwhile, the bird flu is the main reason egg prices have increased so much in recent months.
Background: Bird flu infections in humans have been mild, but two cases in North America were severe and linked to the new D1.1 variant. One patient in Louisiana died, and the other patient, a teen from British Columbia, was in critical condition. The CDC has confirmed 67 human cases in the U.S. of bird flu since 2024.
Read More: New bird flu infections in Nevada dairy cattle signal the virus may be here to stay (CNN)
A new type of bird flu has been found in dairy cows in Nevada (NPR)
Image Credit: littlewolf1989 / Adobe Stock
by Kelly Dean, Based in Kentucky.
