A new study highlights the need for public health officials to ramp up bird flu surveillance in our feline companions.Domestic cats could provide an unexpected new route for the bird flu virus H5N1 to evolve into a more dangerous form, according to a new study published on Monday.In the year since the virus began circulating in dairy cattle, it has killed many cats, primarily on farms with affected herds. It has also sickened at least 60 people, most of whom had close contact with infected dairy cows or poultry.So far, H5N1 does not spread easily among people, although studies have suggested that just one or two key mutations could allow the virus to make that leap.There is no evidence that cats have spread H5N1 to people and they may not represent a major avenue for the evolution of bird flu, experts said. Still, if a cat were simultaneously infected with H5N1 and a seasonal flu virus, the H5N1 virus could potentially acquire the mutations it needed to spread efficiently among people.The new study highlights the need for public health officials to ramp up bird flu surveillance in cats, which tend to have frequent contact with both wild animals and people, said Dr. Suresh Kuchipudi, a veterinary microbiologist at the University of Pittsburgh and an author of the paper.For months, the testing of cows and people for H5N1 has been limited, leaving experts in the dark about the true scale of the dairy outbreak. Last week, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced that it would begin testing the national milk supply to help identify infected herds.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe.

The case adds another worrying wrinkle to a global outbreak that has devastated bird and marine mammal populations, and recently appeared in cattle herds.At least one person in Texas has been diagnosed with bird flu following contact with dairy cows presumed to be infected, state officials said on Monday.The announcement adds a worrying dimension to an outbreak that has affected millions of birds and sea mammals worldwide and, most recently, cows in the United States.So far, there are no signs that the virus has evolved in ways that would help it spread more easily among people, federal officials have said.The patient’s primary symptom was conjunctivitis; the individual is being treated with an antiviral drug and is recovering, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.The Department of Agriculture announced the first cases in dairy herds in Texas and Kansas last week, and then, a few days later, in an additional herd in Michigan. Preliminary testing suggests that cows in New Mexico and Idaho may also be infected.The virus has been identified as the same version of H5N1, an influenza subtype, that is circulating in North American birds.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe.