Human & Animal Health

Every winter, millions of migratory birds fly south to warmer locales, passing over California Central Valley dairies and poultry farms. Many of these wild waterfowl are carrying the virus that causes avian influenza, based on the U.S. Department of Agriculture's wild-bird surveillance, says Maurice Pitesky, University of California Cooperative Extension poultry specialist in the School of Veterinary Medicine at UC Davis.

As highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) continues to spread throughout the world, including on California dairy farms recently, experts on the subject from the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine have taken great strides to educate the public and industry partners on the subject.

Since 2022, a new, highly pathogenic strain of H5N1 influenza or “bird flu” has spread worldwide. In the U.S. it has affected over 100 million birds and for the first time, spread into dairy cows and a small, but growing, number of people. At UC Davis, experts in One Health — an approach that considers the health of people, animals and the environment together — are on high alert.

Dead silence met Marcela Uhart and her team when they arrived at the elephant seal colony at Punta Delgada, Patagonia on Oct. 10, 2023.

Dairy cows in California have a new requirement meeting them: a negative test for H5n1 or “bird flu.”

These tests are handled by the California Animal Health and Food Safety Laboratory System – the backbone of California's warning system that helps to protect the health of California's livestock and, thereby, the lives of Californians.

Researchers at the University of California, Davis, One Health Institute, or OHI, have been awarded $28 million to lead a novel human vaccine trial against Rift Valley fever virus in Africa.