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What the World’s First Case of #BirdFlu in Sheep Means for the Virus’s Spread

The detection of bird flu in a sheep is another sign that the #H5N1 virus is adapting to hop to new hosts

By Josh Fischman, March 24, 2025

Excerpt:
"Discovery of H5N1 in a sheep enlarges the list of nonbird animals now known to be susceptible to the virus. In the U.S. that list includes cows, pigs, domestic and wild cats, coyotes, bears, rodents, raccoons, opossums and marine mammals. Seventy people in the U.S. have also been infected, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and one of them died. Although the risk to humans remains low, and person-to-person transmission is not known to have happened, the virus’s ability to infect different kinds of animals highlights that the microbe can evolve and adapt to infect new hosts, scientists say. As it spreads, it warrants careful and continued scrutiny, officials say."

Read more:
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/what-the-worlds-first-case-of-bird-flu-in-sheep-means-for-the-viruss-spread/
#HPAINews #AvianInfluenza #AvianFlu