The virus has spread to more than 1,000 people nationwide as avian flu was first discovered in American cows last year. The new cow vaccine works well in early testing, raising hope that it can protect livestock and prevent human outbreaks.
new the studywhich has not yet been peer-reviewed, found that calves administered experimental avian influenza vaccines produced protective antibodies. When fed milk from infected cows later, vaccinated calves showed lower levels of the virus than unvaccinated calves.
“I don’t think that in itself is a cow vaccine like a silver bullet,” said Richard Webby, an infectious disease expert with the World Health Organization, who was not involved in the new research. “But what we’re doing now is clearly not working, so we have to do something different,” he said. I said Nature.
Since 2024, US officials have recorded more than 60 cases of human viruses, including the first US deathin January. University of Pennsylvania’s Scott Hensley, co-author of the new study, said Nature The virus poses a “real pandemic threat.” Around half of people infected with avian influenza worldwide I’m dead.
The USDA has cleared at least seven experimental livestock vaccines for this year’s trial, with a conditional in February Approved Chicken vaccine. Since 2022, bird flu has killed more 170 million Agricultural birds only in the United States.
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