By Leah Douglas
(Reuters) -The U.S. Department of Agriculture has detected a bird flu strain in dairy cattle that previously had not been seen in cows, according to an email from the agency’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service seen by Reuters.
Before this detection, all of the 957 dairy cow herd bird flu infections reported this year had been caused by the same strain of the virus, according to the USDA.
The agency on Wednesday said that genome sequencing of milk from Nevada had identified a different strain present in dairy cows for the first time, according to the email.
That strain was the predominant genotype among wild birds this past fall and winter, the email said.
Reuters could not immediately verify the email with the USDA. The agency did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
(Reporting by Leah Douglas; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)
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