More dangerous bird flu variant spreading among US cattle The D1.1 strain of H5N1 avian flu is blamed for one man’s death and putting a teenager in intensive care.
At least four cattle herds in Nevada tested positive for the D1.1 strain of H5N1 avian flu – the variant responsible for the death of a man in Louisiana and which severely sickened a teenager in Canada last year.
Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, told reporters in her first official briefing last week that the USDA had “directed the mass killing of more than 100 million chickens, which has led to a lack of chicken supply in this country, therefore a lack of egg supply, which is leading to the shortage,” under the Biden administration.
A more dangerous strain of H5N1 bird flu has been detected in cattle for the first time, the US Department of Agriculture announced on Wednesday.
Experts originally believed that H5N1 had spilled into cattle from birds just once in late 2023, and then had begun to spread between them – due largely to the movement of both cows and milking equipment across state lines.
