The US Department of Agriculture has confirmed that “cow-to-cow transmission of the avian flu virus is a factor” that is contributing to the avian flu outbreak in cows in the US, “although it is unclear exactly how the virus is spreading moving”.
“We know that the virus is spread in milk at high concentrations; therefore, anything that comes into contact with unpasteurized milk, spilled milk, etc. can spread the virus,” writes the US body in the latest FAQ update on the situation of the avian flu A/H5N1. On the contrary, “to date, we have not found significant concentrations of virus in samples from the respiratory tract, which indicates to us that respiratory transmission is not a primary means of transmission.”
Furthermore, the virus, after having arrived in cows from infected birds and having spread among cattle, could also have followed the opposite path: “we have evidence that the virus has spread from dairy cattle farms to nearby poultry farms”, it can still be read in the document. Furthermore, among the animals infected on farms there are also cats, report the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, according to which the risk for the general population continues to remain low. However, “the wide geographic spread of avian influenza A/H5N1 viruses” is “creating additional opportunities for people to be exposed to these viruses” and “therefore, there may be an increase in sporadic infections in humans resulting from exposures of birds, cattle and other animals”.
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