Milk from dairy cows in Texas and Kansas has examined constructive for hen flu, U.S. officers mentioned Monday.
Officials with the Texas Animal Health Commission confirmed the flu virus is the Type A H5N1 pressure, identified for many years to trigger outbreaks in birds and to sometimes infect individuals. The virus is affecting older dairy cows in these states and in New Mexico, inflicting decreased lactation and low urge for food.
It comes every week after officers in Minnesota introduced that goats on a farm the place there had been an outbreak of hen flu amongst poultry have been recognized with the virus. It’s believed to be the primary time hen flu — often known as extremely pathogenic avian influenza — was present in U.S. livestock.
The business milk provide is protected and threat to individuals is low, in accordance with the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Dairies are required to solely enable milk from wholesome animals to enter the meals provide, and milk from the sick animals is being diverted or destroyed. Pasteurization additionally kills viruses and different micro organism, and the method is required for milk offered by way of interstate commerce, the company mentioned.
“At this stage, there is no concern about the safety of the commercial milk supply or that this circumstance poses a risk to consumer health,” the USDA mentioned in a press release.
The federal authorities mentioned its exams within the cattle didn’t detect any adjustments to the virus that might make it unfold extra simply to individuals.
Dairy farmers in Texas first turned involved three weeks in the past when cattle began falling ailing with what officers known as “mystery dairy cow disease,” Texas Department of Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller mentioned. Milk manufacturing fell sharply and the cows have been torpid and weren’t consuming a lot.
“We hadn’t seen anything like it before,” he mentioned. “It was kind of like they had a cold.”
The state’s animal well being fee started an investigation that included exams for hen flu, spokeswoman Erin Robinson mentioned. Based on findings from Texas, USDA officers assume the cows obtained the virus from contaminated wild birds.
Experts say livestock seem to get well on their very own inside seven to 10 days. That’s completely different than hen flu outbreaks in poultry, which necessitate killing flocks to eliminate the virus. Since 2022, outbreaks in have led to the lack of about 80 million birds in U.S. business flocks.
So far, the virus seems to be infecting about 10% of lactating dairy cows within the affected herds, mentioned Michael Payne, a meals animal veterinarian and and biosecurity skilled with the University of California-Davis Western Institute for Food Safety and Security.
“This doesn’t look anything like the high-path influenza in bird flocks,” he mentioned.
Bird flu was detected in unpasteurized, medical samples of milk from sick cattle collected from two dairy farms in Kansas and one in Texas. The virus was additionally present in a nostril and throat swab from one other dairy in Texas.
Officials known as it a quickly evolving scenario. The Food and Drug Administration and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are concerned, together with officers within the three states. Another dairy-heavy state, Iowa, mentioned it’s monitoring the scenario.
Dairy trade officers mentioned that producers have began enhanced biosecurity efforts on U.S. farms, together with limiting the quantity of site visitors into and out of properties and proscribing visits to staff and important personnel.
Bird flu beforehand has been reported in 48 completely different mammal species, Payne famous, including: “It was probably only a matter of time before avian influenza made its way to ruminants.”
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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives assist from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely liable for all content material.
