The bird flu—also known as highly pathogenic avian influenza, or HPAI—is back, and this time, it's infecting dairy herds across several states for the first time. There's also a report that a Texas dairy worker tested positive for the virus. 

On Friday, the US Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service reported that cows in Texas, Kansas, and Michigan have been infected with bird flu. There are indications that the virus is spreading to additional herds in New Mexico and Idaho. 

"These findings mark the first time that HPAI has been detected in dairy cattle, and the second time the virus had been detected in a ruminant. On March 20, the Minnesota Board of Animal Health announced that the virus had been detected in samples from juvenile goats on a Minnesota farm where poultry had recently contracted the virus," the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) wrote in a press release last week.

AVMA President Rena Carlson said HPAI was first detected in goats "and now in dairy cattle, underscores the importance of adherence to biosecurity measures, vigilance in monitoring for disease." 

And now this.

Texas issues health alert after state's first human case of H5N1 bird flu pic.twitter.com/b6Ad1RgJfE

— BNO News (@BNOFeed) April 1, 2024

Bloomberg data shows that the number of "bird flu" mentions in corporate media news stories has just spiked to a one-year high. 

"H5N1 has now been reported in cows in several states in the US. I wouldn't be surprised if there are infections in cows in Europe too. Maybe people should start looking," Florian Krammer, A professor at the Department of Microbiology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, wrote on social media platform X. 

H5N1 has now been reported in cows in several states in the US. I wouldn't be surprised if there are infections in cows in Europe too. Maybe people should start looking.

— Florian Krammer (@florian_krammer) March 29, 2024

According to the USDA, cows infected by bird flu have recovered "after isolation with little to no associated mortality reported."

While infected cattle resulted in lower milk production, federal agencies have ensured that milk loss "is too limited to have a major impact on supply."

Just in time for the election season.