NEWS
IN DEP TH
INFECTIOUS DISEASES
Worries about bird flu in U.S. cattle intensify
Farm worker becomes infected as H5N1 appears to spread between dairy cows in five states
By Jon Cohen
A
n H5N1 avian influenza strain that
has devastated birds and some mam-
mals around the world has pulled off
another big surprise. The virus has
caused outbreaks among cows at U.S.
dairy farms in at least four states, the
first of which were revealed on 25 March.
Now, a farm worker has also become infected,
most likely from contact with sick cattle. The
worker developed conjunctivitis, a mild eye
infection that frequently occurs when avian
influenza viruses jump into humans, Texas
health officials announced on 1 April.
“It’s definitely taken me by surprise, but
perhaps it shouldn’t have,” given the virus’ es-
capades so far, says virologist Richard Webby
of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture
(USDA) says, “Initial testing has not found
changes to the virus that would make it
more transmissible to humans.” Still, the
widespread occurrence of H5N1 in mam-
mals has renewed worries that it may evolve
to transmit more readily between people.
And scientists are urgently trying to answer
a host of new questions, including how far
the virus has spread among U.S. cows and
how to prevent more herds and people from
becoming infected.
H5N1 has decimated wild bird popula-
tions and poultry since 1996. The past few
12 5 APRIL 2024 • VOL 384 ISSUE 6691
years, a variant known as clade 2.3.4.4b has
spread globally, sickening not just birds, but
also dozens of mammalian species, including
cats, dogs, tigers, bears, seals, and dolphins.
Last month, goats contracted the virus at a
Minnesota farm that also had an infected
poultry flock.
Now, USDA says the virus has infected
cattle at dairy farms in Texas, Kansas, New
Mexico, and Michigan, while Idaho has a
“presumptive” outbreak at one farm. (The
agency noted that cats on farms have also be-
come infected.) Sick cows have a mild illness,
USDA says, and produce less milk, which is
thicker than usual. The infections are not en-
tirely unexpected: Other types of influenza vi-
ruses readily infect cows, and an experiment
published in 2006 demonstrated that a dif-
ferent H5N1 variant could infect calves.
The infected person in Texas is being
treated with oseltamivir, an antiviral drug,
and USDA stressed that the “current risk
to the public remains low.” Contamination
of commercial milk is of “no concern,” the
agency said, because pasteurization reliably
kills viruses, and milk from sick cows is not
sold. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention (CDC) says people should not
drink raw milk or products made from it.
More than 900 human cases of H5N1
have been reported since 1997, just over half
of them fatal, but the virus rarely spreads
between people. That’s because influenza
Water or feed contaminated by birds could
have infected U.S. dairy cows with H5N1.
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receptors on human cells are different from
those in birds, and not a good match for avian
flu viruses.
But humans have the avian version of the
receptor in their eyes, which explains why
they can develop conjunctivitis, which is
typically a mild disease. Hundreds of people
developed eye infections during an outbreak
of H7N7, another highly pathogenic avian
influenza virus, in Dutch poultry flocks in
2003. There was some evidence of human-
to-human transmission during that episode,
and a veterinarian died.
One urgent question now is how to protect
other workers at dairy farms, who include
many immigrants. “We need to be advocat-
ing for our employees on these farms, provid-
ing them support and education in whatever
language that it needs to be in,” says Joe
Armstrong, a bovine veterinarian who works
with the University of Minnesota (UM) Ex-
PHOTO: ERIC THAYER/BLOOMBERG VIA GETTY IMAGES
tension. Dairy workers rarely wear protective
gear, such as masks and goggles, Armstrong
notes, and floors in milking facilities are of-
ten cleaned using high-pressure water spray-
ers, which could aerosolize the virus.
“I think the conjunctivitis in itself is not
so serious, but it points to the fact that those
people have been exposed and that they
might develop respiratory disease,” says Thijs
Kuiken, a comparative pathologist at Eras-
mus Medical Center who specializes in avian
influenza. Kuiken says he’s particularly con-
science.org SCIENCE

cerned because he has heard milk from in-
fected cows contains high levels of the virus.
Scientists are also trying to understand
how the virus is spreading through the
herds—and how to stop it. Dead birds have
been found at some of the affected proper-
ties, suggesting they carried the virus in, per-
haps contaminating water or feed stocks. But
dairy cows in Idaho became sick after com-
ing into contact with cows trucked in from an
area in Texas where the virus was circulating,
leading state officials to believe cow-to-cow
transmission occurred, a spokesperson for
the Idaho State Department of Agriculture
says. In Michigan, too, the virus surfaced af-
ter cows were imported from Texas. Antibody
tests of herds should soon reveal how wide-
spread the virus is and how long it has been
infecting cattle.
In the meantime, Kuiken advises the
United States to restrict the movement of
cows. “I would take the precautionary prin-
ciple and say, ‘OK, until we know what’s
going on, let’s put a standstill on this,’” he
says. But the dairy industry relies on truck-
ing cows south over the winters and then
returning them north, and Armstrong
doubts halting cattle transports would have
much impact if migratory birds are the
main route of transmission. Many bird spe-
cies are currently moving north and may
already be taking the virus with them. “We
have to protect people, but we also have to
… make sure we’re not crippling the indus-
try,” Armstrong says.
Many countries, including the U.S., require
culling of entire poultry flocks if even a single
bird is infected with a highly pathogenic flu
virus. But there is no talk of culling cows,
which cost roughly $2500 each and easily re-
cover from their infection.
Vaccination might be an option, however.
No H5N1 vaccines exist for cattle, but David
Swayne, who formerly ran USDA’s avian in-
fluenza lab, says one could quickly be made
by modifying a swine flu vaccine. Carol
Cardona, an avian influenza specialist and
poultry veterinarian at UM Twin Cities, says
cow vaccination could offer some secondary
PHOTO: LOWER SAXONY STATE OFFICE FOR MONUMENT PRESERVATION
protection to dairy workers. The cattle infec-
tions are “a game changer,” she adds. “I think
it’s all hands on deck.”
The U.S. government stockpiles an H5N1
vaccine for humans but it was made from a
different variant. CDC says it has starting ma-
terial available to produce vaccines against
2.3.4.4b, which studies suggest would pro-
vide “reasonable protection.” Once such shots
exist, “as a protective measure you can imag-
ine vaccinating dairy workers,” Kuiken says.
As to H5N1’s future, Cardona says we
should continue to expect the unexpected.
“The virus is making up new dances,” she
says. “It’s broken the rules on everything.” j
SCIENCE science.org
NE WS
ARCHAEOLOGY
Rare wooden artifacts show the
smarts of early Neanderthals
Complex tools from 300,000-year-old deposit at Schöningen
in Germany point to a “wood age”
By Andrew Curry leave no doubt they were hunting horses.
Excavations at Schöningen 13 ended in
A
bout 300,000 years ago, bands of 2008, although research continues nearby.
early hominins visited the shores of While the spears drew most of the at-
an ancient lake to hunt, sometimes tention, the rest of the wood collected
dropping tools or weapons into the spent decades awaiting analysis, soaking
shallow water and mud. in refrigerated tubs of distilled water to
Fast forward to 1994, when work- replicate the cold, waterlogged soil that
ers at an open-face coal mine in northern preserved it for 300,000 years.
Germany discovered 2-meter-long spruce Starting in 2021, researchers took a close
Downloaded from https://www.science.org on April 07, 2024
spears and other wooden artifacts em- look at more than 700 pieces of wood from
bedded in the former lakeshore. By show- the site, from broken spear shafts to twigs.
ing that these ancient hominins—likely They used microscopes and photographed
early Neanderthals—could hunt big game, the wood under carefully angled lights to
not just scavenge meat highlight traces of wear
from the kills of other or cut marks, constantly
predators, the find helped spraying the artifacts with
shift views of our long- water to prevent drying
underestimated cousins. and cracking. “It’s incred-
This week in the Proceed- ibly soft—you can leave
ings of the National Acad- a fingernail mark on it,”
emy of Sciences, researchers Milks says. “It felt like a
present another set of sur- big responsibility.”
prises from the site, called The team eventually
Schöningen 13: a wealth of identified 187 pieces of
other painstakingly carved wood that showed signs
wood remains, including of carving or splitting. Of
throwing sticks and other those, more than 50 were
hunting implements and identifiably tools. Twenty
dozens of nonhunting tools. were related to hunting,
“It’s so much more than we including more spears but
thought,” says University also finely balanced throw-
of Reading archaeologist ing sticks for downing
Annemieke Milks, a co- small game or birds.
author of the new paper. Another 35 pieces were
Many of the wood tools domestic tools: rounded
are far more complex in split sticks probably used
planning and craftsmanship for smoothing animal
than the simple stone tools Cold, waterlogged soil preserved skins, pointed tools for
found at Schöningen and 2-meter spears and other wooden piercing or working hides,
other sites from this time, artifacts for 300,000 years. and shafts that likely served
providing a rare glimpse as handles for axes or stone
of profound cognitive complexity worked blades. Together, the wooden artifacts re-
in wood. “It’s a remarkable discovery,” says veal a domestic side of Neanderthal life
Marie Soressi, an archaeologist at Leiden Uni- that stone tools rarely capture. “We can get
versity who was not involved in the research. overly fixated on the drama of hunting,” says
The site lacks hominin bones, but most Lawrence Barham, an archaeologist at the
scholars assume the toolmakers were early University of Liverpool who was not part of
Neanderthals or their immediate ancestor, the research team. “The nonhunting tools
Homo heidelbergensis, because it coincides add to our understanding of the diversity of
with the earliest evidence for Neanderthals Neanderthal behavior … and help us relate
elsewhere in Europe. Ample animal bones to them: They had to live, and make clothes.”
5 APRIL 2024 • VOL 384 ISSUE 6691 13