Oregon Capital Chronicle article that goes into it deeper
FDA Updates on Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) (current update 8/30)
From the 1st link:
During the last 30 days, five states have had dairy cattle test positive for H5N1, including Colorado, Michigan, Minnesota, South Dakota and Texas.
Colorado holds a disproportionate number of cases with 26 of the dairy herds to test positive, while the other four states combined hold a total of six herds.
Other mammals diagnosed with H5N1 during the last six weeks are overwhelmingly in Colorado, which has found the virus in house mice, deer mice, domestic cats, a desert cottontail and a prairie vole.
Effect on cats
Public health officials said during the call Tuesday they are beginning to look more closely at when and why cats are being affected by the spread of H5N1.
Barn cats as well as those that hunt outside, coming into regular contact with wild birds that hold a reservoir of H5N1, have tested positive for the virus before.
But a report from the Colorado Veterinary Medical Association earlier this month noted that two of the six cats diagnosed with H5N1 in that state this year “were indoor only cats with no direct exposures to the virus.”
Public health officials on the call were unable to answer a question about how indoor-only cats would have come into contact with H5N1.
Not to downplay the risk to those who work around the cattle, but why specify milk production? Last article I read on this subject said that pasteurization of the mill kills the virus. So, not really anything to worry on that front unless that has changed.
