SCRIPPS NEWS SERVICE – A case of highly pathogenic avian influenza has been detected in alpacas for the first time, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced Tuesday.
The small group of alpacas, which are members of the camel family, tested positive for the highly pathogenic virus after a poultry flock on the same farm became infected, according to the University of Minnesota’s Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy.
The USDA said the positive test results for the alpacas were not a surprise since the livestock on the southern Idaho farm share a habitat.
Officials said that the virus found in the alpacas has the same genotype as the virus that is currently infecting dairy cows and poultry across the U.S.
It’s not uncommon for mammals like alpacas to catch the virus. According to the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service avian flu data, cases have been found in domestic cats, red foxes, opossums, raccoons and bobcats within the last month.
The risk for humans contracting the virus remains low, the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control said.
There have only been three confirmed cases of bird flu infecting humans in the U.S. since 2022. Two of those cases were reported this year, and both were farmworkers who had been exposed to infected dairy cows …
