Effectively fighting any infectious disease, such as bird flu, requires the ability to test for it. Photo courtesy Alveo Technologies When it comes to infectious diseases, it is important to remain vigilant about outbreaks in your area and stay informed about the latest scientific and technological advancements. Take, for example, the Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI)/H5N1 virus, which was first detected in wild birds in the U.S. in January 2022.1 Since then, avian flu has continued to wreak havoc for poultry and livestock producers, as well as veterinarians. As of June 2025, more than 174 million birds2 have been affected, and the virus has been detected in commercial poultry and backyard flocks in all 50 states and Puerto Rico. Since HPAI is zoonotic, it has spread to 1,077 dairy cows in 17 states,3 as well as marine mammals, bears, raccoons, and other animals4 across the U.S., and there have been 70 reported human cases5 in the U.S. and one death. To date, HPAI has been detected in 139 domestic cats in 23 states.6 You may think it mostly occurs in barn and feral cats living on or near farms, but indoor7 and outdoor cats have also contracted the virus. In the Pacific Northwest, there have been reported cases of domestic cats contracting the virus from raw food—prompting the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to require pet food manufacturers to include H5N1 in their safety protocols.8 Cats seem to be more susceptible to severe illness and fatalities from HPAI than dogs. Bird flu outbreaks tend to fluctuate throughout the year, peaking in the fall through spring months due to bird migration patterns. This means there is an increasing chance clients may soon come to your practice with their cat(s) presenting with symptoms of HPAI,9 which can potentially put your other patients, as well as you and your staff, at risk. As the owner of three cats, Tilly, Lucy, and Blyndee, this situation hits close to home. That is why I’m on a mission to help prevent or significantly limit the destructive impact of viruses, fungi, bacteria, and other pathogens, transforming reactive responses into proactive scientific and technological solutions. Portable, on-site diagnostic testing for multiple infectious diseases that provides real-time results has the potential to help veterinarians in the U.S. who treat the animals we love like family. Imagine being able to swab a sick cat in your clinic and have results back before the pet leaves your building–no send-out, no follow-up calls, and no anxious waiting for the owner. Just like commercial poultry producers, who now rely on real-time diagnostics to make immediate decisions on their flock health, veterinary practices could one day do the same with suspected viral infections, such as feline herpesvirus and parvovirus, to streamline operations and reduce the daily burden of pending diagnostics. Let me explain. Effectively fighting any infectious disease, such as bird flu, requires the ability to test for it. For example, when it comes to testing for HPAI in commercial poultry, currently only authorized USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Services (APHIS) laboratories in the U.S. can do so using polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based diagnostics. PCR is a highly precise test, but it may be slow to return results due to the time it takes to ship samples to the lab and process them. Since many of these labs do not have infinite capacity, bottlenecks can occur, which further slow results. While waiting for days or weeks for results, the virus continues to spread, forcing animal health authorities to make decisions based on test results that are days to possibly weeks old. A paradigm-shifting alternative to this centralized approach is real-time, on-site testing using portable analyzers, which can provide results in about 45 minutes via a mobile app. The raw data and analytics from these results can be automatically geotagged, uploaded to the cloud in a private and secure environment, and then exported for regulatory authorities and state veterinarians to have actionable insights at light speed. This technology, which uses a patented method of direct electrical sensing of nucleic acid amplification, is already in use by commercial poultry producers in the EU, Middle East, and Southeast Asia. A global animal-health authority located in the Netherlands is using this to not only test for bird flu in poultry,10 but also to develop a notifiable disease panel and an avian respiratory panel to detect pathogens that present clinically similar to avian influenza, like the Newcastle disease. For these poultry producers, the ability to know sooner/act faster through testing, monitoring, and data-reporting allows them to make decisions in real-time regarding their flocks. Early detection of pathogens provides them with the confidence to implement rapid, targeted control measures, such as quarantining, culling, and enhancing biosecurity to limit the spread. Ongoing surveillance helps them to assess the effectiveness of their control measures and adjust accordingly to get ahead of a potential or existing outbreak. New technology, such as the portable diagnostic tool, can be used at the point-of-care to test for a variety of pathogens and provide real-time cloud-connected data that meets the needs of both the user and regulatory bodies to combat potential outbreaks. This could benefit veterinary practices in the future when dealing with patients with an infectious disease. For busy clinics, diagnostics that deliver rapid results could eliminate the need for callbacks, reduce the time spent managing test logistics, and give the care team clarity on whether to isolate, treat, or refer, right then and there. That’s not just better medicine; it is better workflow. Photo courtesy Alveo Technologies In the meantime, as a One Health front-line detector11 of emerging zoonotic diseases such as HPAI, you and your fellow veterinarians play a crucial role in its surveillance. Integrate biosafety measures12 into your practice to protect you and your staff, establish readiness protocols, and know the signs and symptoms of HPAI in cats, many of which are similar to common respiratory diseases. If you suspect HPAI, contact your state public health veterinarian or animal health official immediately to have the animal tested at a USDA/APHIS-approved facility within the National Animal Health Laboratory Network (NAHLN). Educate your clients about the risk factors for their pets and to call you immediately if they see clinical symptoms so that you can discuss how best to proceed. For now, prevention is key. The threats we face today, from avian flu to future zoonotic spillovers, demand a new approach to diagnostics that is faster, simpler, and smarter. The knowledge and experience gained from commercial poultry producers’ use of real-time testing could easily be transferred over to veterinary practices. Portable, on-site molecular diagnostics could empower veterinarians to make fast, confident decisions while reducing stress on their practice, and more importantly, improve patient care. Shaun Holt is chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Alveo Technologies. He has more than 20 years of operational and financial leadership experience across various technology and life sciences companies, from start-ups to large-capitalization companies. Holt is an advisor to Celesta Capital and serves on the Board of Directors of Prellis Biologics. References Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (n.d.). 2020-2024 highlights in the history of avian influenza (Bird flu) timeline. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. https://www.cdc.gov/bird-flu/avian-timeline/2020s.html#:~:text=In%20January%202022%2C%20the%20first,was%20hospitalized%20for%20one%20day. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (n.d.). USDA Reported H5N1 Bird Flu Detections in Poultry. https://archive.cdc.gov/#/details?url=https://www.cdc.gov/bird-flu/situation-summary/data-map-commercial.html https://publicdashboards.dl.usda.gov/t/MRP_PUB/views/VS_Cattle_HPAIConfirmedDetections2024/HPAI2022ConfirmedDetections https://www.aphis.usda.gov/livestock-poultry-disease/avian/avian-influenza/hpai-detections/mammals https://www.cdc.gov/bird-flu/situation-summary/index.html https://www.aaha.org/trends-magazine/publications/one-health-and-hpai-h5n1-the-role-of-veterinarians/ https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/74/wr/mm7405a2.htm https://www.fda.gov/animal-veterinary/cvm-updates/cat-and-dog-food-manufacturers-required-consider-h5n1-food-safety-plans https://www.avma.org/resources-tools/animal-health-and-welfare/animal-health/avian-influenza/avian-influenza-companion-animals#:~:text=There%20might%20be%20other%20ways,dogs%20is%20considered%20extremely%20low. https://www.alveotechnologies.com/news/alveo-technologies-and-royal-gd-to-expand-poultry-testing-portfolio-beyond-avian-influenza https://www.aaha.org/trends-magazine/publications/one-health-and-hpai-h5n1-the-role-of-veterinarians/ https://www.cdc.gov/bird-flu/hcp/animals/index.html
