Idaho alpacas test positive for H5N1 bird flu, another world first

Four alpacas in southern Idaho have tested positive for highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1, marking the first time that avian influenza has been detected in members of the woolly camelid family, according to the U.S. Department of Health. Agriculture.

On Tuesday, the USDA announced that the agency’s National Veterinary Services Laboratories confirmed the infection on a farm in Jerome County on May 16. Although the infections are a first for parents of the spitting llamas, the USDA said they are not particularly surprising. The alpacas were in close contact with HPAI-infected poultry on the farm, which were “depopulated” this month. Of 18 alpacas on the affected farm, only four were found to be infected. No deaths were documented, according to a report submitted by the USDA to the World Organization for Animal Health.

Genomic sequencing indicates that the H5N1 virus infecting alpacas (B3.13) matches both the virus currently circulating among U.S. dairy cows and the virus that infected the farm’s birds.

According to the Alpaca Owners Association, there are more than 264,000 alpacas in the United States.

This finding does not increase the threat of H5N1 to the general public, but it once again highlights the virus’s alarming ability to spread easily to mammals. The USDA has documented hundreds of cases of H5N1 in a wide range of mammals since May 2022, when the outbreak strain began spreading in North America. In March, the USDA announced an unprecedented outbreak among dairy cows. But the agency found the virus was spreading among mink, raccoons, foxes, cats, seals, bears, mountain lions, bottlenose dolphins, goats and coyotes, among other animals. With each new species and infection, H5N1 gains new opportunities to adapt to better infect and spread among mammals. And as the virus spreads to mammals in close contact with humans, the risk increases that the virus will have the opportunity to adapt to spread between humans.

USDA and state officials continue to identify H5N1 in dairy herds. According to the latest data from the USDA tracking site, at least 66 dairy herds in nine states have been infected.