In April, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) reportedly reported 15 new H5N1 avian influenza cases in dairy cows in Idaho, which has become the epicenter of viral activity in the country in recent weeks.
The pace of detections has accelerated. Idaho has now confirmed 86 cases in dairy cows, the second largest number after California. These new detections have been the national total since March 2024 to 1,047 cases in 17 states. The Idaho agriculture department said 59 herds in four counties are currently in quarantine. The majority are in the southern state-center part of the state. Idaho is the third largest milk producer in the country and has more than 350 family dairy farms and 650,000 cows.
-All mammals affected
In other developments concerning H5N1, the USDA reported 10 new H5N1 virus detections in mammals, other than livestock, in six different states. Most of the positive samples were collected between the end of March and April. One of the cases concerns a domestic cat in the county of Weld, Colorado. The other cases relate to wildlife, in particular mixes in California and Colorado, a raccoon in New York, foxes in Virginia and Texas, as well as a weasel in Washington.
Vaccines for Europe
In addition, the European Commission announced this week a supply agreement with CSL Seqirus, allowing 17 countries to buy up to 27,403,200 doses of pandemic flu vaccine, as part of the preparation for a possible influenza pandemic. This agreement would guarantee access to the vaccine if the World Health Organization (WHO) or the European Union (EU) declared a grippal pandemic.
