Airborne Bird Flu? New Study Suggests Dairy Farms May Be Spreading H5N1 Through the Air

Daily Health

·

16/12/2025

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Early tests show that the H5N1 bird flu virus travels through the air on dairy farms. If the finding holds, it will change what we know about how the disease moves among cows and possibly to people. The work not yet reviewed by outside experts, found virus in farm wastewater plus in tiny airborne bits.

Key Points

Scientists captured H5N1 in both large and small airborne particles on affected farms.
The virus turned up in every area tested - the whole farm appears heavily contaminated.
This wide spread helps explain why cows infect each other quickly but also why some farm workers already carry antibodies against H5N1.
Farms need stronger biosafety and biosecurity rules.

How H5N1 Travels

The first sick cows appeared in March 2024. Since then the virus has raced through herds as well as has sickened 41 people after contact with infected cattle. The exact route remained unclear. Direct virus insertion into the teat causes illness - yet cows did not become infected when researchers used virus contaminated milking machines leaving the team puzzled.

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Air and Surfaces

Emory University School of Medicine researchers visited affected California dairies at the height of the outbreak. They used air samplers to collect breath from cows, air from milking parlors or barns, milk and wastewater that included manure lagoons. H5N1 appeared in the airborne particles and in the wastewater.

“The farms hold a large amount of H5N1 virus,” said senior author Seema Lakdawala. “It is present everywhere. We must widen biosafety also biosecurity steps and control where the virus goes.”

Safety and the Risk of Change

The heavy viral load on farms points to multiple routes at once - breathing virus laden air touching contaminated surfaces and possibly through milking machines. One sample carried mutations linked to easier human spread, but that strain did not move further. Tests show cattle virus still closely matches the bird strain next to does not pass well between ferrets, the standard model for human flu spread.

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Lakdawala warns that so much virus raises the chance of future changes that could help it infect people. Steps to lower the risk include better protective gear for workers, fast on site tests to find and separate sick animals and treatment that kills virus in milk before the liquid reaches the wastewater system.

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