Four alpacas at a farm in Idaho were found to be infected with the H5N1 strain of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza, the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) of the USDA said Tuesday.
Additionally, on Tuesday, two dead cats were found to be infected with H5N1 in Curry County in New Mexico, according to data from the World Organisation of Animal Health. While dairy farms in the country have been affected by the bird flu, the location of the cats wasn’t directly associated with a known outbreak on a dairy or poultry farm.
Virus found in beef tissue, milk
Last week, the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) announced that it had found viral particles in tissue samples, including from diaphragm muscle from one cow. Tissue samples from 95 other cows tested negative for the virus.
A study published last week in the New England Journal of Medicine last week found H5N1 in samples of milk from affected herds in New Mexico. The researchers fed mice the affected milk, all of which fell sick with the virus. High levels of the virus were found in the mice’s respiratory organs and moderate levels were found in other organs.