Influenza virus avian disease also in alpacas. In the US “the National Veterinary Services Laboratories (NVSL) confirmed the detection of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1 in alpacas” kept “in premises where infected poultry had been eliminated” this month. This was reported by the Animal & Plant Health Inspection Service (Aphis) of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).
“Although this confirmation is not unexpected due to the previous detection of Hpai H5N1 in the premises” in question, “the high amount of virus in the environment and the mixing of multiple livestock species on the farm” subject to the discovery, specifies the ‘Aphis, this “is the first detection of Hpai in alpacas.”
By analyzing the genetic sequence of the virus found in alpacas, the Nvsl confirmed that it is “the same” as the virus currently circulating in dairy cattle in various US states (genotype B3.13), and “consistent” with that of the pathogen that had affected the poultry raised in the premises then also inhabited by alpacas.
US scientist: “Virus in alpacas is not a good thing, late reporting”
The news is “not good” about the H5N1 avian flu circulating in dairy cows in the USA and now also appearing in alpacas. “Added to this is the delay” on the part of “the USDA”, the United States Department of Agriculture, “in not reporting it until today”. This was highlighted on X by the American scientist Eric Topol, executive vice president of Scripps Research, founder and director of the Scripps Research Translational Institute. In the Aphis note, dated May 28, it is indicated that the tests confirming the presence of the pathogen in alpacas were completed by the National Veterinary Services Laboratories (NVSL) on May 16.
What the scholars say
“It seems to me that the signs are increasingly intensifying that this highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza (HPAI) virus is truly very multifaceted and chameleon-like. It passes from one species to another with a speed and ease that they scare me a lot, because every time it passes from one type of animal to another there can be a mutation”, he underlines to Adnkronos Salute Matteo Bassetti, director of Infectious Diseases at the San Martino Polyclinic in Genoa, commenting on the detection of the pathogen also in alpacas in the USA. “Another sign of concern”, observes the expert.
“This virus is getting ever closer to humans”, highlights Bassetti. “Its presence in dairy cattle certainly scares me more than in alpacas – he specifies – in the sense that dairy cattle are much closer to humans than alpacas. But certainly – reiterates the infectious disease specialist – they are all very important signals of this continuous mutability, chameleonic nature and ability” of the HPAI H5N1 virus “to pass from one species to another”.
“The H5N1 virus, found in cattle in the United States, had already shown the ability to cause infection in mammals. Therefore the discovery in alpacas does not in itself represent a reason for further alarm. It is a sign of the very close surveillance that the authorities of The USA is implementing it”, he tells Adnkronos Salute Pier Luigi Lopalco, professor of Hygiene at the University of Salento. “The same attention would also be necessary in Europe – he underlines – to identify the first signs of the arrival of the virus”.
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