bird flu in dairy herd

Five of the six dairy herds infected with the H5N1 avian flu virus this month are in California, all in the past week and all in the Central Valley. State officials said those herds were part of a group of farms targeted for testing because of outbreaks in three other herds at the end of August.

Outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in poultry and dairy cattle have dropped off sharply in recent weeks, according to USDA databases. There was a similar but longer lull a year ago in bird flu, which has become the largest animal disease event in American agriculture, killing nearly 101 million birds in domestic flocks since it appeared in the United States in February 2022. (No paywall)

At the same time that the FDA said a second round of tests showed pasteurization kills the bird flu virus in dairy products, the USDA said it would test beef from culled dairy cows for the H5N1 avian flu virus for the coming year. Nearly $2 million has been paid to dairy farmers since July 1 as compensation for milk production lost to bird flu.

Ten new outbreaks of bird flu were found in Colorado dairy herds as the result of mandatory testing of milk samples from bulk tanks on the farms, reported the state’s Agriculture Department. The state veterinarian ordered the weekly tests in an effort to curb the spread of the H5N1 avian flu virus in the dairy and poultry industries.

Nine farmworkers at two egg farms in Colorado have contracted mild cases of bird flu since mid-July while killing and disposing of millions of infected chickens, said public health officials on Thursday. “These preliminary results again underscore the risk of exposure to infected animals,” said the Centers for Disease Control, which added that the risk to the general population remains low.

Three workers at a Colorado egg farm contracted mild cases of bird flu while culling an infected flock of chickens, said state public health officials. With the discovery, Colorado is home to four of the seven U.S. cases of bird flu in humans reported since April. (No paywall)

A dairy farmworker in northeastern Colorado, who had direct exposure to sick cattle, was treated for a mild case of bird flu and has recovered, said state health officials. The male worker is the fourth person in the country — all employed on dairy farms — infected by the avian flu virus …

The government will compensate farmers for 90 percent of the value of milk lost as a result of H5N1 avian flu infections in their dairy cows, announced Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack on Thursday. “We want to assist our producers every way we can to help them as they combat this emerging animal health disease,” he said.

Only a handful of U.S. farms — 18 in all — are accepting federal funds to quash the outbreak of the H5N1 avian flu virus among dairy herds that began three months ago, according to the Agriculture Department. (No paywall)

After the H5N1 avian flu virus jumped from birds to dairy cattle in Texas last December, it was spread across the country by infected cows, contaminated machinery, and people who inadvertently carried the virus on their clothes and footwear from farm to farm, said USDA scientists on Thursday. Officials said the risk to the public was low because the virus has not shown signs of adapting to humans. “We should be, as we are, alert, not alarmed,” said Nirav Shah, the CDC’s principal deputy director.

To reduce the risk of bird flu infections, state health officials should bar the sale of raw milk to consumers if it contains the H5N1 avian flu virus, said the Food and Drug Administration on Thursday. Although the FDA has long warned that raw milk is a high-risk food that may carry disease-causing pathogens, more than 30 states allow the sale of unpasteurized milk from the farm, in retail stores, or through so-called cow shares.

A farmworker in Michigan is the first person to experience respiratory symptoms after contracting bird flu from dairy cows infected with the H5N1 virus, said Michigan officials on Thursday. It was the third U.S. case of cow-to-human transmission and the second in Michigan. The Centers for Disease Control said the risk to the general public remained low.

A worker on a Michigan dairy farm contracted a mild case of H5 bird flu from infected cattle — the second cow-to-human infection since bird flu was first identified in dairy cattle in late March — said the Centers for Disease Control on Wednesday. The risk to the public remains low, said Nirav Shah, the CDC’s principal deputy director.