USDA says genetic sequencing revealed the mystery illness impacting Texas dairies is the same strain of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) that's been in the U.S. The virus is carried by wild waterfowl.
None of them are even good plagues, there were no zombies and I still had to go to work. I don't think it should count if you still have to go to work.
I meant now that they have identified the mystery illness as the highly pathogenic avian flu, it's not surprising that it has moved into the US. It has been in South America for several seasons, and avian flu can be carried by migratory birds. It was only a matter of time until it spread like this.
Bird flu still hasn't migrated to mammals. Let alone humans.
USDA reports that affected dairy cows do not appear to be transmitting the virus to other cattle within the same herd. APHIS says based on findings from Texas, "the detections appear to have been introduced by wild birds. Initial testing by the National Veterinary Services Laboratories has not found changes to the virus that would make it more transmissible to humans, which would indicate that the current risk to the public remains low."
Yes, it has infected plenty of mammals. It has caused mass die offs in aquatic mamals in South America and has spread through a mink farm in Europe. But no, it does not appear to have adapted to transmit more easily between humans yet.
I heard a marine biologist just last week saying marine mammals were being infected by sick birds that they had eaten. At most I see talk of suspicion of transmission between mammals like in that Spanish mink farm. So I still think people are getting carried away ITT until I see some science to the contrary.