The USDA has added black mice to its list of growth for mammals infected with H5N1 avian flu.
The rats are in Riverside County, and news reports suggest that they lived in the area where two recently infected poultry farms were identified.
Discovery of H5N1 in black mice – typically urban species – provides another route for potential exposure to humans and their pets. This virus can be transmitted through feces, urine, blood and saliva. Rats also provide containers for the virus to move between farms and homes.
It is unclear which institutions first identified and tested the rats, or why the rats were tested. A spokesperson for the Riverside County Public Health Department said he was unable to provide answers to those questions and headed towards the USDA. The USDA did not answer questions on Friday.
These are the first rats identified in the US as suffering from a disease since 2021, when this latest version of the H5N1 virus debuted in North America. Other mammal species that have since been infected include skunks, domestic cats, bottlenorth dolphins, harbor seals, foxes, mountain lions, and coyotes.
More than 50 species of North American mammals, including tens of thousands of dairy cows, have been infected.
The finding, disclosed Wednesday, will see the Trump administration rehire dozens of USDA bird flu scientists recently fired based on so-called government efficiency or cost-cutting recommendations from Doge It comes when you’re in the process.
The USDA did not respond to inquiries from Times about rats and fired employees, but the agency told CBS News it was working “to quickly correct the situation,” and veterinarians and other emergency cases A person focused on avian flu, who said they had been exempt from the response.
The agency told the press that it “continues to prioritize responses to highly pathogenic avian flu.”
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