Domestic mice tested positive for H5N1 avian flu

Nearly a dozen house mice in New Mexico have tested positive for H5N1 avian flu, according to federal officials, adding them to the growing list of mammals infected with avian flu.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service reported Tuesday that 11 house mice in Roosevelt County, New Mexico, tested positive for the virus.

Detailed information on these cases was not immediately released, but this is the first time that avian flu has been detected in a common house mouse in the real world. Mice were previously only infected in laboratory experiments.

Tuesday’s report came just a week after alpacas in Idaho were also infected with H5N1, and a little more than two months after the virus was first detected in dairy cows. The number of outbreaks on dairy farms in the United States has since risen to 81 across 9 states.

The global spread of H5N1 clade 2.3.4.4b – and its recent spread to increasing numbers of mammals – has raised concerns about the possibility of human-to-human transmission from a future variant, although so far only a few human cases have been reported. found after contact with infected birds or cattle.

Three dairy farm workers in Michigan and Texas tested positive for H5N1 bird flu in recent weeks, but only one of them suffered from an acute respiratory illness. More serious cases have been reported in other countries, but none involve human-to-human transmission.

Last month, the U.S. government announced nearly $200 million in funding to combat the spread of H5N1 avian influenza in dairy cows, including support for dairy farms, testing, vaccine development, surveillance and measures to ensure the safety of commercial milk.