California Declares an Emergency Over Bird Flu in Cattle

 

Why has California declared a bird flu emergency?

The emergency declaration on Wednesday was made after several more dairy cows tested positive for the virus in southern California.

Newsom said declaring a state of emergency would make funds available to “streamline and expedite” efforts to tackle an outbreak.

Since bird flu was detected in dairy farms in the United States in 2022, it has spread to hundreds of herds of cattle in 16 US states and caused infections in some dairy farm workers – all of which have been mild so far.

However, on Wednesday, the first severe illness from the H5N1 strain of the virus in a human was reported in Louisiana.

The 65-year-old, who is understood to have underlying health conditions, has been hospitalised and is in critical condition, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

CDC confirms first severe case of H5N1 Bird Flu in the US. While an investigation into the source of the infection is ongoing, it has been determined that the patient had exposure to sick and dead birds in back yard flocks,” the agency said.

The H5N1 strain was first detected in the US in March this year. Since then, 61 people in seven states have been reported to have contracted the virus. Most of them have suffered only mild symptoms, and 34 of them are in California.

While the detection of bird flu in humans has historically been rare, more and more humans are testing positive for the virus in recent years, especially in North America.

Before 2022, human cases of bird flu had not been reported in the US at all. In 2022, only one human case of bird flu had been detected in the US and no human cases were detected in 2023.

On November 9, Canada reported its first human case of H5N1 in a teenager in the British Columbia province.

Attendees view cows that are shown by exhibitors at the state fair in West Allis, Wisconsin, US, on August 9, 2024. Dairy farmers said they were taking precautions by testing for avian flu while exhibiting cattle during the fair [Jim Vondruska/Reuters]

What is bird flu?

Bird flu, or avian influenza, is a virus that typically spreads among birds but can also affect humans and other animals, including dairy cows, seals, cats, dogs, foxes, skunks, tigers, leopards and farmed mink, according to the CDC. So far, there have been no cases of bird flu passing from one human to another.