A new vaccine approach
Sacha told The Lund Report that his interest in improving the vaccine was sparked by his then 4-year-old son being so sickened by H1N1 swine flu in 2014 that he required hospitalization. His family had been vaccinated against the flu, but it didnt protect them against the strain of the virus he picked up while traveling to a conference in Australia, he said.
That got my mind turning, Sacha said. Maybe we should find a different way to vaccinate against influenza. Because these current vaccines that we use, they change every year and theyre clearly kind of a guess based on what (flu) is going to come out.
Currently, annual flu shots are formulated in a manner intended to anticipate how the virus will evolve and trigger antibodies to fight it. Their effectiveness varies year by year and wanes as the virus changes.
Thats because traditional vaccines are keyed toward proteins on the exterior of the virus, which continuously evolve and mutate.
Sofor years, researchers at a variety of institutions have pursued whats called a universal flu vaccine, one that could combat even newer variants of the virus over a persons lifetime with a single inoculation.
The OHSU researchers are working on a version that harnesses the cytomegalovirus, a common herpes virus related to Chickenpox that usually results in mild or no symptoms, but is long-lasting.
The cytomegalovirus provokes an immune response from the bodys T cells, which target the virus internal proteins, rather than the rapidly evolving ones on its exterior.
Thats why researchers were excited by the studys indication of effectiveness for a vaccine based on a 1918 version of the flu, even if the test involved monkeys, not humans.In the universitys statement, Sacha said the vaccine worked because the virus interior protein has been well preserved even after almost 100 years of evolution.
Although just six of the 11 inoculated monkeys survived, Sacha said the trial was successful considering that the monkeys were given a vaccine geared toward a 100-year-old flu strain and then exposed to H5N1, which he called one of the most pathogenic viruses known.
We as humans would never take those odds for a vaccine, but against a virus thats this wicked, its pretty good, he said. Its a start. We have to do better if we are ever going to go forward.
Sacha said future trials will use a version of the vaccine optimized for more current flu strains. The vaccine would then go to clinical trials on humans, which he said could be done fairly quickly because there are testing sites that use healthy volunteers.
Sacha said an earlier experimental HIV vaccine developed by OHSU researchers laid the groundwork for the technology used in the flu vaccine.
DENVER Recognizing that Colorado has not be able to control the spread of highly pathogenic avian influenza among dairy cattle for nearly three months, state agriculture officials on Tuesday announced they would be mandating weekly testing of milk samples for bird flu at all commercial dairy farms in Colorado, effective immediately, in order to curb further spread of H5N1 in the state.
The move by the Colorado Department of Agriculture (CDA) is the first-of-its-kind in the nation since the unprecedented outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) was first detected in U.S. dairy cattle on March 25, followed by Colorado, which detected its first outbreak a month later.
Citing difficulties in navigating a challenging, novel outbreak of HPAI in dairy operations, state veterinarian Dr. Maggie Baldwin said Tuesday the order which went into effect Monday is aimed at protecting the dairy and poultry industries as well as public health in Colorado.
Can't view the document below? Click here to read the order from the CDA.
We have seen devastating impacts of this disease not only to our dairy industry, but our poultry industry as well, Baldwin said in a statement, adding the mandate was the best next step in order to protect these vital industries in our state.
Colorado is leading the nation in both the number of bird flu outbreaks among dairy cattle as well as the number of infected workers who have tested positive for H5N1 after coming into contact with infected animals.
As of Tuesday, Colorado had reported 49 bird flu outbreaks among dairy cattle, with more than half of those identified over the past 30 days, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). That means infections have been reported in 47% of Colorados herds since late April.
USDA
The weekly surveillance for H5N1 in bulk-tank milk samples will take place under the joint supervision of the CDA and the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE), with support from USDA and will be in effect until further notice, a CDA spokesperson said in a news release, adding that dairy producers will receive further guidance directly so they can meet the testing requirements as set by the order.
Dairies currently under quarantine due to bird flu outbreaks or under orders for testing will be subject to those specific orders, the spokesperson said. The order does not include raw milk facilities.
Any dairy producer who does not comply with the order could face criminal charges, according to the document.
The latest effort by the state comes as the CDA simultaneously tries to prevent further spread of the virus in poultry, the species most affected by H5N1.
Spillover events from the strain of H5N1 that has been spreading among dairy cattle have been reported at two commercial poultry facilities in Weld County and the CDA is investigating a potential third spillover event from a dairy operation into a poultry farm.
Those spillover events have forced the state to kill more than 3.2 million domestic chickens during the month of July, the CDA spokesperson said.
The bird flu outbreaks at Colorado dairy farms account for nearly a third of all outbreaks in the U.S., per the USDA's tally, which shows 169 dairy herds have been infected across 13 states as of Tuesday.
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FILE - Chickens walk in a fenced pasture at an organic farm in Iowa on Oct. 21, 2015. Another 1.2 million chickens will have to be slaughtered after bird flu was confirmed on an Iowa egg farm in the second massive case this week just days after nearly 1 million chickens had to be killed on a Minnesota egg farm. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall, File)
(NewsNation) Six workers were found to have contracted avian flu, or bird flu, from a single farm in Colorado, the biggest outbreak of the disease in the U.S. so far.
This is the first time multiple cases of bird flu have been connected to one incident. The workers were all involved in culling poultry that had contracted the illness, a standard practice when bird flu is discovered in a flock.
High temperatures are believed to have contributed to the outbreak, as temperatures around 100 degrees made it difficult for workers to wear personal protective equipment (PPE). While PPE is recommended by the Department of Agriculture to help slow the spread of H5N1, there is no requirement that workers use it.
The workers experienced mild respiratory and eye symptoms and the strain of the virus was found to be similar to that found in Michigan.
The good news is that there is no evidence of human-to-human transmission and the similarities to Michigan indicate the virus has not evolved significantly.
However, there are still concerns that a bird flu epidemic could develop in the U.S. as states have taken varying approaches to testing and protecting cattle or workers, making it difficult to tell how widespread bird flu is in cows or people.
While traces of bird flu have been found in milk, authorities say pasteurization is sufficient to kill the virus and there is little to no risk in consuming pasteurized milk or beef cooked to Department of Agriculture recommendations.
As we continue to see more reports about bird flu, you may be wondering how exactly the virus spreads and whether youre at risk.
Right now, theres a low risk because its mainly seen in birds, but there have been some rare cases, so we need to remain vigilant, said Lysette Cardona, MD, infectious disease specialist with Cleveland Clinic Florida. Theres no documented human-to-human transmission at this point. So it is in the community, but still at a lower risk. Dr. Cardona said that while bird flu is rare, it is contracted when a person has close contact with an infected animal.
Symptoms of the virus typically include fever, fatigue, cough, sore throat, stuffy nose, and nausea.They may also get conjunctivitis, often referred to as pink eye.
Bird flu in humans can be deadly.According to the CDC, in roughly 50% of known cases worldwide, the person died.
However, when detected early, the virus is treatable. People that have immunocompromising conditions or are pregnant, the elderly, may have some type of chronic condition such as with the heart, diabetes, and especially younger infants that have not developed their immunity, may be at risk for more severe illness with any type of influenza, including the bird flu, she said Dr. Cardona.
There is a test available for bird flu, which involves a throat or nose swab.
Since the virus isnt common, its important to tell your doctor right away if you suspect you were exposed to the virus.
In a new study led by UNC Charlotte researchers from the Center for Computational Intelligence to Predict Health and Environmental Risks (CIPHER) and the North Carolina Research Campus at Kannapolis, University scholars have found evidence that the latest variants of H5N1 influenza commonly known as avian or bird flu are better at evading antibodies, including those of humans, than previous iterations of the virus. The study is currently published as a preprint on the online bioRxiv preprint server for biology research and is awaiting peer-review.
In June 2024, the U.S. Department of Agriculture reported that over 300 mammals had been found to have been infected with the H5N1 virus between 2022 and 2024. The World Health Organization recently reported that approximately five humans have been infected with H5N1 in 2024 alone, but the broader potential impact to human health remains unclear, the UNC Charlotte researchers wrote.
Using advanced AI and physics-based modeling techniques made possible by UNC Charlotte and the North Carolina General Assembly investments in high-performance computing research and artificial intelligence-assisted computational analysis, University researchers have made strides in understanding the specific interactions between H5N1 virus proteins and antibodies, with the goal that these findings will inform the design of stronger, more effective vaccines for the virus.
This project was led by first author Colby T. Ford, a CIPHER visiting scholar in data science and founder of Charlotte-based startup, Tuple, LLC, along with recent College of Computing and Informatics students Shirish Yasa, Khaled Obeid and Sayal Guirales-Medrano, as well as Department of Bioinformatics and Genomics professors Richard Allen White III and Daniel Janies. Tuple, LLC was also a partner in this project.
Historically, our ability to answer biological questions was limited to the throughput of our traditional lab-based processes. Today, however, through the seemingly limitless scale of high-performance and cloud computing, we employ AI and other modeling tools to answer such questions computationally, said Ford. In this study, our aim is to be more forward looking to predict the potential health impacts of H5N1 influenza before a major event catches us off guard.
Building off of CIPHERs previous SARS-CoV-2 research on coronavirus variants and their ability to evade antibodies, this study is based on data pulled from 1,804 computational experiments as well as an in-depth phylogenetic analysis of 18,508 protein sequences of H5N1 collected between 1959 and 2024. CIPHER scholars also visualized the geographic and host shifts found throughout H5N1s history.
According to the study, virus mutations related to host-shifts from birds to mammals had a statistically significant negative impact on the ability of antibodies to bind to and fight off H5N1. Researchers also found that based on the wide variety of host species and geographic locations in which H5N1 was observed to have been transmitted from birds to mammals, there does not appear to be a single central reservoir host species or location associated with H5N1s spread. This indicates that the virus is well on its way to moving from epidemic to pandemic status in the near future.
This study is the latest example of UNC Charlottes groundbreaking efforts to put advanced computational research methods to use toward better understanding and fighting infectious diseases across the globe.
We are entering a whole new era of molecular epidemiology in which we provide a functional insight above and beyond disease surveillance. said Janies, CIPHER co-director and the Carol Grotnes Belk Distinguished Professor in Bioinformatics and Genomics. We demonstrate that large data sets can be analyzed rapidly with high-performance computing and artificial intelligence to assess our preparedness for important problems such as H5N1, which is spreading rapidly to new hosts and regions including American cattle and farmworkers.
H5 related avian influenza A is an emerging pathogen in humans while being an ongoing pandemic in wildlife for over two years, said White, Assistant Professor of Bioinformatics. Our predictive study provides a window to the future of using AI in the arms race against emerging pathogens.
View the paper below:
Colby T. Ford, Shirish Yasa, Khaled Obeid, Sayal Guirales-Medrano, Richard Allen White III, and Daniel Janies. 2024. Large-Scale Computational Modeling of H5 Influenza Variants Against HA1-Neutralizing Antibodies. https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.07.14.603367 Posted July 17, 2024.
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. Animal health experts in Penn States College of Agricultural Sciences have announced that out of an abundance of caution they will test the Universitys dairy herd for highly pathogenic avian influenza, or HPAI, under a voluntary state testing program.
The announcement comes amidst an outbreak of bird flu that has affected dairy cattle in more than a dozen states since March. As of July 19, the virus had not been found in Pennsylvania dairy herds, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture and state animal health authorities.
The Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture has encouraged all dairy farms in the state to enroll in its Lactating Dairy Cow Health Monitoring Program. The voluntary program is aimed at providing critical data on the status of dairy herds in Pennsylvania and detecting HPAI as quickly as possible should it arrive in the commonwealth.
The state herd monitoring program calls for conducting a weekly test of milk from a farm for three weeks, said extension veterinarian Ernest Hovingh, who is also a clinical professor of veterinary and biomedical sciences and director of Penn States Animal Diagnostic Laboratory. If all tests are negative and no clinical signs of the disease are observed, the herd is considered unaffected. At that point, weekly testing would continue, to ensure that the herd remains free of the virus.
He noted that unaffected herds are cleared for interstate transport of animals without any additional testing. For herds that do not participate in the monitoring program, Department of Agriculture regulations require testing of animals prior to movement across state lines.
Because Penn State does not move dairy cows across state lines, our herd has not been subjected to testing so far, Hovingh said. But participating in this program will allow us to determine if our herd is in fact HPAI-free, as strongly expected, and also will provide additional data to inform state and national surveillance efforts.
The chances of getting a positive test result are very remote, he added, but if that happens, Penn State and state officials will immediately investigate further.
Penn State attending veterinarian Jacob Werner, who oversees the health and well-being of all University livestock, said he and managers at the Penn State dairy barns have seen no signs to suggest that the virus is present in the herd, but it will be good to have testing data to confirm those observations.
We have a biosecurity plan in place to minimize the chances of bringing any diseases, including HPAI, into our herd, and we screen for sick cows regularly and consistently, Werner said. Drops in feed intake and milk production are two hallmark signs of most affected herds, and we monitor closely for those symptoms. We also dont import any animals into our herd, which appears to be the biggest risk factor for introducing HPAI infection to dairy herds.
Even in the unlikely event that the testing of Penn States herd brings back a positive result, Hovingh pointed out that in accordance with the U.S. Food and Drug Administrations Pasteurized Milk Ordinance, milk from sick cows does not leave the dairy and, therefore, does not enter the food supply.
In addition, all milk from Penn State cows is pasteurized before being sold for human consumption, he said. Numerous studies have shown that pasteurization inactivates pathogens such as avian flu viruses, and the Food and Drug Administration has confirmed that pasteurized milk and milk products are safe for human consumption.
Penn State will release the HPAI status of its dairy herd after the initial series of three weekly tests is completed, Hovingh said.
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Colorado health officials identified two more cases of the highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza bird flu in humans over the weekend, bringing the case count in the state to seven people who worked with inflected birds.
A worker at a northeast Colorado commercial egg layer in Weld County, where five other cases occurred, was confirmed sick on Friday. On Saturday, officials identified another presumptive positive case in a worker at a separate poultry farm in Weld County.
Another Colorado resident contracted the virus from infected cattle earlier this month.
The cluster of cases, comprising eight people in Colorado, accounts for most of the bird flu cases in humans in the country.
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The recently infected workers were dealing directly with infected poultry and experienced mild symptoms such as pink eye and respiratory infection symptoms. Officials with the U.S. Department of Agriculture said last week that heat could have prevented proper use of personal protective equipment, exposing the workers to the virus.
Thirteen counties in Colorado have at least one poultry flock with a bird flu outbreak, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Weld County has 12 affected flocks, accounting for over 9 million birds. There have also been 28 cattle herds with confirmed cases in Colorado, according to the USDA.
The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment says it is safe to eat properly handled and cooked poultry products, as the proper handling and cooking of meat and eggs kills viruses. The risk of bird flu to the general public is low and there has not been evidence of the virus spreading from person to person.
Everyday consumers and the dairy industry have not seen broad changes to the milk on store shelves or the broader markets four months after the first cattle tested positive for bird flu.
While individual farmers may have lost out on revenue, the broader economy has been spared because the outbreaks of avian influenza have been fairly contained and not widespread, according to academics who study dairy markets and industry groups.
While a case hasnt been reported in Missouri or Illinois, 160 cow herds in 13 U.S. states have reported positive tests, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. There are 24,094 dairy farms nationwide, according to the 2022 U.S. Census of Agriculture.
Rather fortunately for the industry and for consumers, we haven't seen major impacts yet, said Chuck Nicholson, a University of WisconsinMadison agricultural economics professor. I will hope that we don't see major impacts going forward, but, with any kind of epidemiological situation that we have going on, the future can be quite uncertain.
Since late March when tests first confirmed bird flu in dairy cattle, milk prices have held steady and will likely tick up slowly, Nicholson said. While there is little data on dairy consumer trends, there is little evidence to suggest that bird flu has spooked them either.
It's not been something that has been affecting the consumer marketplace, and we haven't seen signs of it, said Alan Bjerga, a spokesperson for the National Milk Producers Federation. Honestly, if there were to be a panic, you would think that it would have happened by now.
As of May, the latest available month, the industry price of milk or what farmers are paid stood at $22 per 100 pounds, USDA data shows.
If avian flu spreads more dramatically across the country, however, consumers and the dairy industry could notice, Nicholson said.
When cows test positive for bird flu, their milk is not put on the market for a couple weeks. Lactating cows sick with the virus can get a fever and produce a thickened, discolored milk. Generally within 30 days, most animals recover but their milk production may not return to normal right away, said Mark Ernst, Illinois State Veterinarian.
Under normal market circumstances, a decrease of just a couple percentage points of milk production in the U.S. can boost the industry price of milk. In turn, some of those hikes are typically passed onto consumers.
Whether or not that happens depends on the future trends of the virus, Nicholson said.
Nothing to say that that will happen but we don't have anything yet to say that it won't happen, he said. So I think it really is kind of a stay tuned situation.
Several Midwestern states have ramped up testing for the virus. Iowa and Michigan have opted for more requirements than others.
The USDA recently announced the federal agency will pay dairy farmers with infected cattle 90% of the value of the milk lost, somewhat similar to crop insurance.
In Illinois, the state department of agriculture recently said it will require testing for lactating dairy cattle for exhibitions like county and state fairs to avoid spreading bird flu.
It really has not been detrimental to the dairy industry like what the poultry industry faced a couple of years ago, said Tasha Bunting, the executive director of the Illinois Milk Producers.
While cattle often make a full recovery from the virus, poultry do not. To avoid further spreading, animal health officials require all birds in the infected flock are killed. Since this version of the highly pathogenic avian influenza first appeared in 2022, more than 99 million birds have died due to the virus, according to the USDA.
The dairy industry is now focusing on messaging around the bird flu in order to reassure customers that milk products are safe, Bunting said.
The dairy products that theyre purchasing at the stores are going through a vetted process that ensures the health and safety of that product because of pasteurization, she said.
Keeping consumers happy is important given the history of American milk consumption.
Demand for milk as a beverage has been dropping since the middle of the 20th century, USDA data shows. Per capita, consumption is down from 33.4 gallons per year in 1945 to 15.6 gallons in 2021.
As a whole, the decrease in demand for dairy products is much smaller because the American population continues to grow. Milk consumed as a beverage also only accounts for about 30% of overall consumption. The demand for other milk products, like cheese, is growing, Nicholson said.
In terms of the total demand for milk products, both within the U.S. and outside of the U.S., we're still on a growth path despite that beverage milk trend going down, he said.
Oddly enough, anecdotal evidence suggests milk consumption actually rose in some places in the few weeks following the first reports of bird flu in dairy cattle, which is not what the industry expected, Bjerga said.
In some ways almost counterintuitively it may have reminded people just how valuable milk is to their diet, he said.
This story was produced in partnership withHarvest Public Media, a collaboration of public media newsrooms in the Midwest. It reports on food systems, agriculture and rural issues.
The Summary
Four poultry workers in Colorado who recently contracted bird flu bring the total of human cases in the U.S. to at least nine.
Though that number is small, disease researchers say commonalities between the cases all but one of which were reported in the last four months are enough to start assembling a picture of how the virus may affect people.
The U.S. cases have been relatively mild and limited to farm workers who had handled infected animals a sign that the virus in its current state isnt a major threat to humans.
Some patients have reported typical flu symptoms such as fever, chills, cough, sore throat or runny nose. Many have had conjunctivitis or pink eye.
One thing that we can conclude is that the current strain of the virus isnt well adapted for human infection, and may not even be well adapted for infecting the lower respiratory tract, said Matthew Binnicker, director of the Clinical Virology Laboratory at the Mayo Clinic.
The cases stem from a global outbreak of H5N1, a particular strain of bird flu that took off in 2020 and has hit poultry and dairy farms in the U.S.
The countrys first human case was reported in April 2022, in a prison inmate who had culled birds at a farm in Colorado and whose only symptom was fatigue. Texas reported the second case in April, followed by two in Michigan and five in Colorado the four most recent of which were confirmed over the weekend.
The cases' mild nature stands in contrast to the flus effect on birds and some mammals including seals, sea lions, foxes, skunks and cats that have died from the virus. Since January 2022, more than 99 million wild aquatic birds, commercial poultry and backyard flocks in the U.S. have been affected, which means they either died of the virus or were culled to prevent further transmission. And roughly 160 dairy cow herds have been struck since the virus was first detected in cows in March.
This H5N1 strain is considered highly pathogenic, a term that, when used in the context of bird flu, means it has a high potential to kill chickens.
Hearing about such a virus really scares people, but that term is really a USDA term for what happens in poultry, said John Lednicky, a research professor of environmental and global health at the University of Florida. Just because its highly pathogenic in birds doesnt mean its highly pathogenic in mammals or humans.
Lednicky added that some strains of H5N1 are deadly in humans, while others are not.
Of the more than 900 total cases of H5N1 strains in people reported globally since 1997, around half have been fatal. But in the last two years, the global mortality rate has been lower: around 27%. And even then, those numbers largely reflect just the people who were sick enough to seek treatment.
Dr. Peter Palese, a microbiology professor at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, said patients in that tally are those whove been hospitalized and who, in retrospect, have been in contact with large amounts of virus.
Paleses 2012 research, which examined blood samples from 12,500 people without a documented bird flu infection, found that 1% to 2% of them may have previously been infected with H5N1.
Experts still worry, though, that the virus could someday mutate into a version that causes more severe disease or that spreads from person to person. (So far, all transmission has been from animals to humans.)
The concern is that as more animals are infected, and then more people are infected, the virus will change, Binnicker said.
Of the nine U.S. bird flu patients, seven reported pink eye.
That includes all four of the recent cases in Colorado, which were linked to an outbreak at a commercial farm in Weld County. The workers had been culling poultry.
The state reported earlier this month that another patient there, a dairy worker who had been exposed to infected cattle, also developed pink eye.
Texas one case involved conjunctivitis without other symptoms. That person worked with dairy cows and developed redness and discomfort in their right eye in March. According to a case study in the New England Journal of Medicine, the person reported wearing gloves but no eye protection on the job.
Conjunctivitis isnt the most common symptom of bird flu in humans, but it has been documented in some people infected with different strains, such as in a 2003 outbreak of H7N7 in the Netherlands.
Scientists said a few factors could explain the symptoms recent prevalence. One is that farm workers arent consistently covering their eyes when dealing with sick animals. As a result, dairy workers could get raw milk which has been shown to carry the virus in their eyes.
Thats likely what happened to a dairy worker in Michigan who developed mild conjunctivitis and was confirmed to have bird flu in May.
The virus may also enter peoples eyes through respiratory droplets or aerosols (tiny airborne droplets). Or, some workers could have touched their eyes after handling infected animals or contaminated raw milk.
The receptor on the cells that the virus needs to bind to is pretty prevalent in cells in the eye, and that could be one explanation as to why were seeing conjunctivitis in individuals infected with avian flu, Binnicker said.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends treating people with bird flu with antivirals. Some of the U.S. patients have received Tamiflu, a drug also used to treat seasonal influenza.
The studies that have been done so far have shown that Tamiflu is effective at treating the currently circulating strain of avian influenza, Binnicker said. It usually needs to get administered within 48 hours of symptom onset to be most effective.
The reason that all but one of the U.S. cases have been reported since April, scientists say, may come down to two factors. First, the virus is spreading at a rapid clip among birds and sporadically infecting other animals, such as domestic cats, thereby increasing the odds of human exposure. Second, health departments have started monitoring and testing people exposed to infected animals if they develop symptoms.
The CDC estimates that at least 10,600 people have been monitored for bird flu and at least 375 have been tested since the outbreak in commercial poultry started in 2022.
There probably is a much higher amount of virus out there today compared to a year ago, but were also picking up more cases because were testing more, Binnicker said.
Dr. Natasha Bagdasarian, chief medical executive for the state of Michigan, said local health departments there have been screening for even the faintest of symptoms.
I think thats why were seeing the mild cases, she said. Its because of this active symptom monitoring that were doing.
The Michigan worker who had conjunctivitis, for instance, didnt even seek out a doctor before being tested for bird flu. Michigans other case was a farmworker working with infected cows, who reported a sore throat, cough and congestion to local health officials.
Bagdasarian said the fact that Michigan has only seen two cases after testing roughly 60 people suggests humans need lots of exposure to get sick. The workers who tested positive also werent wearing full personal protective equipment and had been involved in tasks like milking cows or administering fluids to them, she said.
Were not talking about folks who had transient contact with these animals, who walked past a barn or a pen, Bagdasarian said. Were not talking about people who just touched a cow once.
Aria Bendix is the breaking health reporter for NBC News Digital.
