USDA milk testing shows different strain of H5N1 bird flu in Nevada dairy herds Not previously detected in cows, the strain has circulated in wild birds and led to a fatal infection in Louisiana last month

https://www.statnews.com/2025/02/05/usda-nevada-herds-different-bird-flu-strain-milk-testing/?utm_campaign=morning_rounds&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-91wkG86Voxk83YMnZyI8ktScl2LFHntA3vw9MqV3jalGVAXM8kuhnvllqH0gEPv-jHY0a88OPN_UzSiquJprBWUAstIA&_hsmi=345985342&utm_content=345985342&utm_source=hs_email A troubling discovery in some Nevada cow herds Four dairy herds in Nevada — previously thought to have the same strain of bird flu that’s been circulating in cows all over the country — were actually infected with a different version of the virus, USDA announced yesterday. The version of the virus these cows have is one that has been going around in wild birds that severely sickened a teenager in Canada last year and led to a death in Louisiana last month. The discovery is an important one because it means that driving this virus out of cows will be harder than the agency has estimated, experts told STAT’s Helen Branswell. Read more on the new finding and how experts are reacting.