German scientists say bird flu virus can infect cattle
A recent study by German scientists indicates that the highly pathogenic bird flu virus, H5N1, can infect calves.
Four calves have been subjected to the experiment and were inoculated with the bird flu virus.
The study concluded that H5N1 has the potential to infect bovine calves, at least after high-titer intranasal inoculation, and that conventional HI tests may underestimate such infections.
A correlation between influenza A virus infection, reduced milk yield, and respiratory symptoms in dairy cows was assumed in the late 1990s and has received recent attention.
Since 1997, an epidemic of highly pathogenic bird flu (HPAIV) subtype H5N1 has spread in Asia, causing fatal infections in poultry, wild birds, and mammals.
The Federal Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection in Germany said that knowing the susceptibility to the disease of species living in close proximity to humans and poultry, such as cattle and water buffalo, would be help people determine further areas of risk.