What’s the lastest on the ongoing US bird flu outbreak?

The United States continues to face an outbreak of bird flu, with a house pet dying this week in the state of Oregon after consuming pet food that tested positive for the virus.

“We are confident that this cat contracted H5N1 by eating the Northwest Naturals raw and frozen pet food,” Dr Ryan Scholz, state veterinarian from Oregon’s agriculture department, said in a statement.

“This cat was strictly an indoor cat; it was not exposed to the virus in its environment, and results from the genome sequencing confirmed that the virus recovered from the raw pet food and infected cat were exact matches to each other,” Dr Scholz said.

The raw frozen pet food was recalled on 24 December after testing positive for highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) virus. It was sold through distributors in 12 US states and British Columbia in Canada.

It comes as cases of avian influenza increase globally among wild and domestic birds and continue to spread among hundreds of dairy cattle herds in the US.

What is the latest on the bird flu outbreak in the US?

According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), there have been 65 human cases of bird flu there this year.

The first severe case in the US was reported in Louisiana last week, as a patient was hospitalised with the virus.

The person had the same type of virus that was detected in wild birds and poultry and in recent human cases in Canada and the US.

“No person-to-person spread of H5 bird flu has been detected,” the CDC said, adding that the person had exposure to sick and dead birds.

Meanwhile, cases of bird flu continue to spread among dairy cattle in the country, with nearly 900 dairy herds impacted across 16 US states.

The outbreak prompted California Governor Gavin Newsom to declare a state of emergency this month “to streamline and expedite the state’s response” to the virus.

There are 675 cow herds affected in California, according to the latest figures from the CDC.

Earlier in the month, the US government ordered the testing of the country’s milk supply to better monitor the virus.

While avian influenza, or H5N1, is widespread in birds, it’s rare in humans and typically only transmits to people in close contact with an infected animal.