The newer variant of avian influenza that recently infected dairy cattle in Nevada has a genetic change that’s thought to help the virus copy itself in mammals — including humans — more easily, according to a new technical brief from the US Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.

Dairy cows in Nevada have been infected with a new strain of bird flu virus different from the one circulating in other herds throughout the past year, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)