Goat in Minnesota tests positive for bird flu, first ever US case

A goat in Minnesota has examined positive for the extremely pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI), or bird flu, marking the first U.S. case of bird flu in home cattle, sheep, goats or their family.

The positive juvenile goat was residing on a Stevens County farm that already had bird flu contaminated poultry, the Minnesota Board of Animal Health introduced Wednesday. All poultry on the property had been already quarantined from the HPAI detection in February.

Following the goat’s positive consequence, the board says it quarantined all different species on the premises and is working with the Dept. of Agriculture (USDA) to research the transmission of the virus in the case.

File photograph: A child goat sticks his head by way of a fence in New York. (Lori Van Buren/Albany Times Union through Getty Images)

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“This finding is significant because, while the spring migration is definitely a higher risk transmission period for poultry, it highlights the possibility of the virus infecting other animals on farms with multiple species,” Dr. Brian Hoefs, the state veterinarian, stated in an announcement.

“Thankfully, research to date has shown mammals appear to be dead-end hosts, which means they’re unlikely to spread HPAI further.”

The board says the chance to the general public is extraordinarily low, and any threat of an infection is proscribed to individuals in direct contact with contaminated animals. To date, no person in the U.S. has turn out to be ailing following contact with mammals contaminated with this virus.

HPAI is a critical illness that requires speedy response as a result of it’s extremely contagious and is usually deadly to chickens, the Dept. of Agriculture says. 

According to the Minnesota Board of Animal Health, the proprietor in the goat case notified the company earlier this month of bizarre deaths of newly kidded goats on the property the place a yard poultry flock was depopulated as a result of HPAI in February. 

The goats and poultry had entry to the identical area, together with a shared water supply, the board stated in a press launch. 

One of the goat carcasses was taken to the University of Minnesota Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory (VDL), the place it examined positive for influenza A. The National Veterinary Services Laboratories (NVSL) later confirmed it was H5N1 HPAI, the identical virus circulating in the nationwide outbreak that started in 2022. 

Millions of chickens, turkeys and different birds had been slaughtered this yr due to the outbreak.

Chickens stroll in a fenced pasture at an natural farm in Iowa in 2015. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall, File)

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Samples from the grownup goats had been damaging for HPAI and all appeared wholesome with no extra sick goat children being reported since March 11.

HPAI has been beforehand identified in different mammalian species equivalent to skunks, canine and cats. 

Animals with weakened or immature immune programs, just like the goat children in this case, are at greater threat of contracting illness, the board stated. 

There are not any prior stories of pure HPAI an infection in goats. 

A turkey from Old Glory Farm in Elkhorn, Wisconsin.  (Fox News Digital/ Jon Michael Raasch)

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There has been restricted experimental information on HPAI an infection in ruminants, and USDA has tracked greater than 200 detections of HPAI in mammals throughout the nation because the begin of the 2022 HPAI outbreak.

The Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) offered suggestions for private protecting gear and is monitoring the well being of these in direct contact with the contaminated goats. 

Any one who develops respiratory or gastrointestinal signs after publicity to the goats could also be voluntarily examined for avian influenza and different respiratory pathogens.