- The US Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Inspection Service has confirmed three more H5N1 avian flu outbreaks in dairy cattle, bringing the national total of infected herds to 178 in 13 states. The new positive samples are from a herd in Colorado, which has now confirmed 25 outbreaks over the last 30 days, and two herds in South Dakota.
- Cambodia's Ministry of Health yesterday reported the country's eighth human case of H5N1 of 2024, according to Avian Flu Diary. The case is in a 4-year-old boy from Svay Rieng Province who had touched dead chickens about 12 days before the onset of his illness. The boy is currently hospitalized. It’s the 14th human H5n1 case reported in Cambodia over the last 18 months. All of the cases reported in the country have belonged to the 2.3.2.1c clade of H5N1.
- Four countries this week reported cases of vaccine-derived polio, according to the latest update from the Global Polio Eradication Initiative. Nigeria reported six cases of circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 (cVDPV2) in Kano Province, raising the country's 2024 total to 37 cases. Chad, Guinea, and Yemen each reported one cVDPV2 cases, bringing their 2024 totals to 6, 5, and 33 cases, respectively.
Quick takes: H5N1 in US dairy cattle, human H5N1 case in Cambodia, polio in 4 countries
News brief
Washington state confirms first CWD case
News brief
Chronic wasting disease (CWD) was confirmed yesterday in an adult female white-tailed deer found dead in Spokane, Washington. It's the state's first case of CWD.
Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife (WDFW) said the confirmation was made by the Washington Animal Disease Laboratory at Washington State University, which tested lymph nodes from the deer submitted in July with a batch of other samples for testing. WDFW said it's still working on details of the case and will hold a press briefing next week to provide more information.
Case found through proactive surveillance
Washington is now the 35th state with documented CWD in wild or captive cervids. It's also been found in four Canadian provinces.
CWD is a neurologic disease caused by misfolded proteins called prions and is fatal in infected deer. It poses an ongoing threat to cervids such as deer, elk, moose, and reindeer because it can spread from animal-to-animal and through environmental contamination. The disease isn't known to infect humans, but officials recommend not eating meat from a sick animal and using precautions when field-dressing or butchering cervids.
WDFW said it's been testing for CWD since 1995 and has increased those efforts in eastern Washington since 2021 due to proximity to known cases in western Montana.
"With the spread of CWD across the country and recent detections in adjacent states and provinces, WDFW has proactively conducted surveillance in this area since 2021," Eric Gardner, WDFW’s Wildlife Program Director, said in a press release. "We detected this case because of the surveillance program, and we are immediately reviewing our Management Plan and the circumstances of this detection."
WDFW said staff members are preparing to collect tissue samples from deer, elk, and moose within the initial response area to understand more about the outbreak, and that it's working with land owners, land management agencies, state and local governments, tribal partners, and sportspeople and conservation groups in the affected area in an attempt to reduce spread of the disease.
