In Michigan, two dairy farm employees may have unintentionally transmitted avian influenza to their pet cats last May, according to a recent report released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). This study, published on Thursday, raises concerns about the possible spread of the virus from infected cats to other residents in their homes, although current evidence is limited, making definitive conclusions challenging.

Originally expected for publication in January, the release of this study was postponed due to a communication freeze imposed by the Trump administration on the CDC. A single data table from the report briefly circulated online two weeks ago amid a discussion on California’s wildfires, only to vanish shortly thereafter, which led to increased calls from health experts for its full disclosure.

While the findings provide critical insights, they leave several important questions unresolved. Experts are particularly interested in identifying how the cats initially contracted the virus and whether the dairy workers were responsible for transmitting it to both the cats and other individuals in their households. Jennifer Nuzzo, the director of the Pandemic Center at Brown University’s School of Public Health, noted the uncertainty surrounding the mode of transmission: “We cannot definitively determine whether the infection occurred from humans to cats, cats to humans, or if the cats contracted it from another source.”

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