Bird flu has been found in 36 dairy herds in nine US states and the true case numbers may be higher - posing risks to humans
Bird flu infections in cattle could pose a risk in the longer term if they enable a strain that can infect humans Scientists are becoming increasingly worried about fast-spreading bird flu infections among dairy cows which are more likely to mutate into infections in humans.
Scientists say this means the virus can spread much more quickly through cow populations, from which it is more likely to evolve into a strain that can be passed easily between humans – creating the risk of a new pandemic.Defra said there was no evidence that the virus was currently spreading in cattle in the UK, and that the risk to humans from the virus more generally remains low. But scientists are understood to remain “vigilant” to any changes in risk to Britain.
“There is evidence that a single cow can harbour several different types of the flu virus, further increasing the chances of generating new strains that could be more infectious to humans,” he added. While they could pave the way for a pandemic further down the line, as things stand, the US dairy cow cases pose little threat to the UK,
There is no trade in live cattle between the US and the UK and no wild birds that migrate to North Western Europe directly from North America that might potential carry the strain, which scientists have found is passing backwards and forwards between cows and birds.
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