For the First Time, U.S. Dairy Cows Have Tested Positive for Bird Flu

Livestock at multiple dairy farms across the U.S. have tested positive for bird flu — also known as highly pathogenic avian influenza, or HPAI — in an outbreak that’s likely spread to at least five states.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service confirmed Friday that cows in Texas, Kansas and Michigan had been sickened by the virus, and there were presumptive positive test results for additional herds in New Mexico and Idaho.

It’s the first time the disease has been found in dairy cattle, according to the American Veterinary Medical Association.

The cases come just days after a group of young goats contracted bird flu on a Minnesota farm.

Bird flu infects the respiratory and gastrointestinal tracts of birds and is often fatal to avian populations. It can spread from wild birds to commercial poultry and backyard flocks as well as terrestrial and marine mammals and humans.

Government officials say the risk to the public amid the current outbreak remains low. Most past human infections have occurred after people had “unprotected exposures to sick or dead infected poultry,” according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And officials say the strain of the virus detected in Michigan is similar to the one found in Texas and Kansas, which was shown through initial testing not to include any changes that would make it more transmissible to humans.