How to protect your pets from bird flu
A subtype of avian influenza, known as H5N1, continues to spread among wildlife, dairy cows, domestic birds, and some pets in a string of global outbreaks that began in 2020. The highly pathogenic virus was first detected in U.S. wild birds in 2022, and has since led to the culling of more than 166 million poultry and infected nearly 1,000 cattle herds. This strain has also infected hundreds of other mammals nationwide, according to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Since 2022, there’ve been 70 confirmed human cases in the U.S., largely among farm workers. One person died in Louisiana after an infection resulting from exposure via a backyard chicken flock. There are no documented instances of human-to-human spread and the CDC currently considers the risk to the general public to be low. Yet the virus has stoked fear and uncertainty–most recently among pet owners and veterinarians as...