Bird flu is being found in horses _(Image: PA)_
A new study by scientists at the University of Glasgow has discovered bird flu is going undetected in horses.
The research is led by the MRC-University of Glasgow Centre for Virus Research and includes groups from the US and Mongolia, and has discovered horses have been infected with H5N1, or avian flu, in Asia.
The infections have been going undetected and comes as the recent emergence and rapid spread of avian flu in cows in the US has raised concerns for wider viral spread.
More commonly known as bird flu, it primarily spreads among wild birds such as ducks and gulls but is known to have infected farmed and domestic birds including chickens and turkeys.
It has been known to spill over into other species including mammals, and in rare cases, humans. It is rare than it does infect humans but outbreaks are extremely serious when it does.
The research team undertook a series of H5N1 antibody tests in horse herds in two Mongolian regions. The first of those was a wetland area which hosts a large population of wild birds and the second was a dry area with low bird density.
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The results have been published in the Emerging Infections Diseases journal and shows that horses have been infected with avian flu.
Researches found that horses had been infected with the virus in a number of different areas of Mongolia over multiple years, but crucially there were no outbreaks reported and it suggests the animals may have been asymptomatic.
H5N1 influenza has been spreading rapidly in dairy cattle over several US states since March 2023. North America is home to 30 percent of the global equine population, where horses are likely to be exposed to H5n1 infected animals in agricultural settings.
Additionally, horses are already known to carry equine flu – H3N8 – and researchers say that now, with the knowledge that they can also be infected with avian flu, these animals should be monitored to help prevent against viruses combining, with unknown consequences.
Professor Pablo Murcia, lead author of the study from the MRC-University of Glasgow Centre for Virus Research, said: “Influenza emergence is a rare event. Pandemics were triggered by the reassortment of viruses from different species.
"For instance, the 2009 influenza pandemic was caused by a swine-origin virus that contained genetic material from avian, human, and swine influenza viruses. This resulted from a complex series of events, including coinfections in pigs with these different viruses, followed by natural selection.
“Horses, too, have their own influenza strain, known as equine influenza, which is endemic in North America. With the rapid spread of avian influenza among cattle in the US, the likelihood of horses coming into contact with infected cows, and the chances of horses becoming coinfected with both avian and equine influenza viruses may increase.
"This raises the risk of generating novel viruses with unknown pathogenicity, potentially posing a threat not only to horses but to other mammals, including humans.”
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