The first confirmed case of the rare H5N9 bird flu has been reported in the U.S.
The virus was confirmed in a commercial duck farm in Merced County, California, according to the World Organization for Animal Health.
“The USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, in conjunction with State Animal Health and Wildlife Officials, are conducting comprehensive epidemiological investigations and enhanced surveillance in response to the HPAI related events,” the Department of Agriculture wrote in a report to the organization.
Authorities also detected the more common H5N1 strain on the same farm. Nearly 119,000 birds there had been killed by December.
The report comes after news that 100,000 ducks would be killed on a New York farm that was quarantined for an outbreak.
On Monday, the Department of Agriculture reported that more dairy herds had been stricken with bird flu, bringing the total there to 726 infected herds. Of those, 162 have fully recovered and were released from quarantine. The national total is up to 943 in 16 states.
Bird flu has spread across the U.S. in recent months, killing a person in Louisiana, sickening nearly 70 others, and resulting in the deaths of hundreds of millions of poultry.
Officials have maintained that risk to the general public remains low, while concerns continue to flare, parks close, and zoos take precautionary measures.
Human-to-human transmission has not yet been reported, but researchers are voicing their concerns regarding the nation’s response to recent outbreaks and passing milestones that are troubling.
While a pandemic is not inevitable, scientists told The New York Times on Monday, developments indicate that the possibility is not remote.
For the general public, H5N1 is “a low risk, relative to the other risks they face today,” Dr. Nirav Shah, principal deputy director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told the publication. But “100 percent, that could change,” he said. “This is a dangerous virus.”
