Pasteurized #Milk Serves as a Passive #Surveillance #Tool for Highly Pathogenic Avian #Influenza Virus in Dairy #Cattle
Abstract The emergence of H5N1 highly pathogenic avian influenza virus (HPAIV) clade 2.3.4.4b in dairy cattle across multiple U.S. states in early 2024 marks a major shift in the virus’s host range and epidemiological profile . Traditionally limited to bird species , the ongoing detection of H5N1 in cattle , a mammalian host not previously considered vulnerable, raises urgent animal and human health concerns about zoonoses and mammalian adaptation . We assessed the feasibility of using commercially available pasteurized milk as a sentinel matrix for the molecular detection and genetic characterization of H5N1 HPAIV. Our aim was to determine whether retail milk could serve as a practical tool for virological monitoring and to evaluate the use of full-length genome segment amplification for extracting genomic sequence information from this highly processed matrix. Our results link HPAIV sequences in store-bought milk to the cattle outbreak and highlight both the potential and the l...