Wastewater testing finds H5N1 avian flu in 9 Texas cities

Researchers who sequenced viruses from wastewater samples from 10 Texas cities found H5N1 avian flu virus in 9 of them, sometimes at levels that rivaled seasonal flu.

In other developments, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in updates on its response to H5N1 outbreaks in cattle said experiments in ferrets began last week.

Findings tilt toward animal source 

A team from Baylor College of Medicine and the University of Texas Health Sciences Center detailed their whole-virome sequencing findings in a new preprint study.

With many questions still unanswered about how the virus is spreading in dairy cows and how widely the virus is circulating, scientists are increasingly eyeing wastewater sampling as a key surveillance tool.