Spikes of influenza A virus seen in wastewater samples from 59 sewer systems across 18 different states this spring may point to the spread of the H5N1 avian influenza virus that is currently infecting dairy cattle, a new study suggests.So far, the US Department of Agriculture has reported more than 30 herds of dairy cows infected with H5N1 influenza across nine states. But there are questions about how large the outbreak might be and whether the US can adequately track it.In news conference last week, USDA officials admitted that it’s been difficult to get milk producers to let them test for the infection. Recent tests of milk purchased at grocery stores found genetic material from the H5N1 virus in 1 out of 5 samples tested, though further testing showed the virus fragments detected in milk were not infectious.Last week, in a multi-agency news conference on the government’s response to the spreading virus, Dr. Nirav Shah, principal deputy director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said the agency was looking at whether it might be feasible to use wastewater to pinpoint areas where the virus is spreading. First, he said, scientists would need to develop a test that could distinguish H5 influenza from the larger soup of circulating A-strain flu viruses.Now scientists at Emory, Stanford and Verily Life Sciences, a research organization affiliated with the WastewaterSCAN network that monitors a large network of …
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[mwai_chat context=”Let’s have a discussion about this article:nnSpikes of influenza A virus seen in wastewater samples from 59 sewer systems across 18 different states this spring may point to the spread of the H5N1 avian influenza virus that is currently infecting dairy cattle, a new study suggests.So far, the US Department of Agriculture has reported more than 30 herds of dairy cows infected with H5N1 influenza across nine states. But there are questions about how large the outbreak might be and whether the US can adequately track it.In news conference last week, USDA officials admitted that it’s been difficult to get milk producers to let them test for the infection. Recent tests of milk purchased at grocery stores found genetic material from the H5N1 virus in 1 out of 5 samples tested, though further testing showed the virus fragments detected in milk were not infectious.Last week, in a multi-agency news conference on the government’s response to the spreading virus, Dr. Nirav Shah, principal deputy director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said the agency was looking at whether it might be feasible to use wastewater to pinpoint areas where the virus is spreading. First, he said, scientists would need to develop a test that could distinguish H5 influenza from the larger soup of circulating A-strain flu viruses.Now scientists at Emory, Stanford and Verily Life Sciences, a research organization affiliated with the WastewaterSCAN network that monitors a large network of …nnDiscussion:nn” ai_name=”RocketNews AI: ” start_sentence=”Can I tell you more about this article?” text_input_placeholder=”Type ‘Yes'”]
