1. Three New Screwworm Cases Confirmed in Texas, Raising Total to 15
KSSTradio.com
June 22, 2023
June 22, 2026 - AUSTIN, Texas - State and federal animal health officials announced Monday that three additional cases of the destructive New World screwworm have been confirmed in Texas, bringing the total number of known U.S. cases to 15 since the parasite reappeared in the country earlier this month.
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the newest cases involve one infected lamb in Crockett County and two calves in Edwards County.
Full text: https://www.ksstradio.com/2026/06/three-new-screwworm-cases-confirmed-in-texas-raising-total-to-15/
2. "What U.S. Livestock Producers Need to Know About FMD Vaccine" - a one-hour webinar
Wednesday, July 1 at Noon Eastern
USDA APHIS
June 19, 2026
Webinar Description:
Vaccines are management tools for disease prevention and control. Use of an FMD vaccine in an outbreak is valuable and more complex than a routine livestock vaccine. Attendees will learn about how FMD vaccine could be used in an outbreak, why the U.S. invests in an FMD vaccine bank, tests that can be used to know if an animal has been FMD vaccinated, how states are planning to use and are "practicing" getting a regulated vaccine from the "bank" into livestock.
Speakers:
Jennifer Steele, DVM, PhD; Manager of the North American FMD Vaccine Bank (NAFMDVB) and the National Animal Vaccines and Veterinary Countermeasures Bank (NAVVCB), USDA APHIS VS
Justin Smith, DVM; Kansas Department of Agriculture Animal Health Commissioner
Danelle Bickett-Weddle, DVM, MPH, PhD, DACVPM; Preventalytics and Consultant to National Milk Producers Federation
This webinar is supported by the National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) through a cooperative agreement with the USDA National Animal Disease Preparedness and Response Plan (NADPRP) for the funded project "Biosecurity and SMS: Continuing to Build Resiliency in the Dairy Industry through Education and Response Tools."
For more information about the National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) visit: www.nmpf.org
For more information about the Secure Milk Supply (SMS), visit: www.securemilk.org
The webinar will be recorded and posted on the USDA VS NTEP YouTube page if you're unable to attend. If you have questions, please contact Dr. Bickett-Weddle at dbw@preventalytics.com
Registration is free and required - sign up today at this LINK:
https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_YUo5Xh9MTWetuJAEOY1zVA #/registration
EHV-1 Case Confirmed in Powhatan County, Virginia
EDCC Health Watch
TheHorse.com
June 22, 2026
On June 19, a mare at a private facility in Powhatan County, Virginia, tested positive for equine herpesvirus-1 (EHV-1). She presented with clinical signs of vestibular disease, including a head tilt and circling to the left. She has improved with treatment.
Two other horses have been exposed but are not showing clinical signs.
Full text: https://thehorse.com/1145526/ehv-1-case-confirmed-in-powhatan-county-virginia/
Sixteenth Horse Tests Positive for EIA at California Facility
EDCC Health Watch
Equus Magazine
June 22, 2026
On June 18, a 3-year-old Quarter Horse gelding in Stanislaus County, California, tested positive for equine infectious anemia (EIA), marking the 16th confirmed case at the facility. Eleven exposed horses will remain under quarantine for another 60 days until their next retest.
4. How H5N1 bird flu hid unrecognized for weeks in dairy cattle
Study reveals the biology of why the disease looked so different when it made the leap to cows, and offers a framework for spotting its next new guise more quickly
University of Pittsburgh
EurekAlert.org
June 19, 2026
PITTSBURGH- When H5N1 bird flu first began infecting U.S. cattle in early 2024, diagnosis was elusive, because in cows, the disease looked completely different. Instead of affecting the lungs, as H5N1 does in other mammalian species, it caused severe infection in the cows' udders, largely sparing the lungs.
A study by University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health researchers published today in Science Advances provides the first mechanistic explanation for this peculiar new guise for H5N1, which now affects more than 100 bird and mammal species globally. The study also establishes a new way to help scientists spot bird flu's next surprise move more quickly, saving precious time in mounting public-health measures to stem the spread.
The disease first appeared in dairy cattle along the Texas Panhandle as stubborn cases of severe, necrotizing mastitis, a painful inflammatory condition that damages tissues in the mammary glands.
"Mastitis is a classic disease in milk-production animals, and veterinarians were dutifully looking to all the usual suspects for the source, like bacterial pathogens," said senior author Suresh Kuchipudi, Ph.D., chair of Infectious Diseases and Microbiology at Pitt Public Health. "When the real culprit turned out to be bird flu, everyone in the field was caught completely by surprise. We hadn't even remotely considered that cattle could be a host for H5N1."
In the weeks before the virus was identified, it moved from herd to herd, sickening the cattle-and contaminating their environments.
Full text: https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1131354
5. Australia Was The Last Continent Without This Bird Flu. A Dead Skua Just Ended That
By John Drake, Contributor
Forbes
June 21, 2026
[Note: a second case has been reported in a northern giant petrel on June 22nd.]
A brown skua, found dying on a remote stretch of the Western Australian coast, has done what years of surveillance had braced for. On June 20 the strain of highly pathogenic bird flu that has killed wild birds and marine mammals on every other continent was confirmed in Australia for the first time.
Australia was the last continent on Earth free of the H5N1 lineage known as clade 2.3.4.4b, the most destructive animal pathogen of the present era. The virus did not come down the Asian migratory flyways that biosecurity planners had watched for years. It came from the south, out of Antarctica, riding seabirds that had picked it up on subantarctic islands where it has been killing seals by the thousand.
The bird was found at Cape Le Grand National Park near Esperance, about 700 kilometers southeast of Perth, and the detection was confirmed by CSIRO's Australian Centre for Disease Preparedness. A southern giant petrel found in the same region is suspected also to be positive, after a preliminary result at the Western Australian government lab, and was sent for confirmatory testing. The government reported no detections in poultry and no evidence of deaths in other species, and said the finding does not change Australia's status as free from the disease in poultry under international standards. For now that holds.
6. Invasive Asian longhorned tick threatens livestock in New York
By Gene Morse
MyTwinTiers.com
June 22, 2026
NEW YORK (WWTI) - The New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets, in collaboration with Cornell Integrated Pest Management (Cornell IPM), has issued a warning to livestock producers regarding the Asian longhorned tick (LHT), an invasive species identified in the U.S. since 2017.
This pest is increasingly threatening livestock health in the Hudson Valley. State Agriculture Commissioner Richard A. Ball highlighted the urgent need for producers to implement preventive measures to protect cattle, sheep and goats, encouraging them to consult veterinarians for guidance.
Cornell IPM's Associate Director Ken Wise emphasized their ongoing surveillance of the tick's spread and its implications for animal health. The LHT poses significant risks by overwhelming livestock with high populations, leading to blood loss, anemia and potentially death. Moreover, it is a known vector of theileriosis, a disease that can impair milk production and cause mortality, with instances of livestock deaths, with reports of at least one livestock death in the Hudson Valley linked to this disease.