Tipping Point Quick Hits (03.28.24)

Avian Flu Spreads to Texas Cattle

Earlier this year, I wrote how the H5N1 strain of avian influenza, otherwise known as “bird flu,” was becoming panzootic—a pandemic among animals impacting dozens of species around the world. The virus struck millions of chickens in the United States starting in 2021, and has recently been detected from Alaska to Antarctica. It has jumped from birds into mammals.

Just this week, the virus was detected among dairy cattle in the Texas Panhandle, where I’m from. Before confirming it as H5N1, the sickness had been identified weeks ago as a “mystery disease” impacting cows’ milk production.