The H5N1 bird flu has long been associated with birds, but in recent years it has jumped into dairy cattle, raising new questions about how it moves and how dangerous it could be. In a recent article for Scientific American, Stephanie Pappas reports that infectious virus was found not only in milk and on milking equipment, but also in farm wastewater and airborne particles at affected California dairy farms.
Pappas digs into the science and implications behind those findings. She talks about how researchers detected the virus in aerosol form, why dairy farms present a particularly risky environment, and what this shift could mean for farm workers and efforts to contain outbreaks. She also reflects on how this development fits into broader questions of zoonotic risk and public health.
