Bird Flu Infects Humans and House Cats

February will mark four years of the United States battling the most significant animal health emergency in the country’s history: the continued spread of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI, aka bird flu). Since our last reporting on the bird flu crisis (see AWI Quarterly, summer 2024), the virus has continued to spread to dairy herds and domestic bird flocks across the country, bringing the total number of known cases in dairy herds to 334 across 14 states, and the total number of infected poultry flocks to 512 commercial operations and 670 backyard flocks across 48 states, impacting over 104 million birds. 

In yet another alarming development, the virus now seems to be infecting both human and feline members of households who’ve had either no direct exposure to the virus or no known occupational exposure to sick or infected animals. In August, the Colorado Veterinary Medical Association reported that six domestic cats in the state had been diagnosed with HPAI during 2024, two of whom were indoor-only cats with no direct exposures to the virus. The first recorded case involving an infected human with no direct or occupational exposure occurred in Missouri in September. As of mid-December, the Center for Disease Control has indicated that two of the 60 confirmed US cases of bird flu infections in humans were from “unknown” sources. 

Despite these developments, the CDC still asserts that the public health risk is low, and the US Department of Agriculture has shown no sign of changing its response strategy, including its policy of indemnifying producers who use depopulation methods—in particular, “ventilation shutdown plus heat” (see AWI Quarterly, fall 2023)—that have caused millions of birds to suffer agonized deaths.

Program Terms: Companion Animals, Farmed Animals

AWI Quarterly Terms: Feature Article