A new variant of the H5N1 bird flu — the same one that led to the death of a Louisiana man — has for first the first time been found in infected U.S. dairy cattle.

The variant of bird flu that killed a Louisiana resident has now been found in dairy cows. Until now, the human cases of bird flu traced to cattle have been mild, mostly eye infections. But the U.S. Department of Agriculture confirmed that a strain previously found only in wild birds has turned up in dairy herds in Nevada ‒ raising concerns that future human infections could be more serious.

A new strain of bird flu has infected dairy cows in Nevada, marking the second time the virus has jumped from birds to cattle. This latest infection — reported by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Wednesday — involves a strain of H5N1,