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Rodrigo Abd

Milk and nasal swab samples from sick cattle on at least two dairy farms in Texas and two in Kansas have tested positive for bird flu, according to federal and state officials.

Agencies are moving quickly to conduct more testing for the illness — known as highly pathogenic avian influenza, or HPAI — the U.S. Department of Agriculture <a href="https://www.aphis.usda.gov/aphis/newsroom/news/sa_by_date/sa-2024/hpai-cattle" target=_blank>said</a> in a news release Monday.

Cattle are showing flu-like symptoms and lactating discolored milk, Texas state officials <a href="https://www.texasagriculture.gov/News-Events/Article/9950/COMMISSIONER-MILLER-SAYS-MYSTERY-DAIRY-COW-DISEASE-HAS-BEEN-IDENTIFIED" target=_blank>said</a>. Wild migratory birds are probably the source of infection, federal officials added, pointing to reports that farms have found dead wild birds on their properties.

The announcement comes after Minnesota officials <a href="https://www.bah.state.mn.us/news_release/stevens-county-goat-tests-positive-for-same-influenza-virus-affecting-poultry/" target="_blank">reported</a> the first infection of avian flu among livestock in the United States last week, when a juvenile goat living on a farm with infected poultry tested positive.

The infections among cattle pose minimal risk to human food safety or milk supply and prices, officials said. Milk from sick cattle is being diverted or destroyed. Pasteurization — a heating treatment that kills pathogens — is required for milk involved in interstate commerce, greatly reducing the possibility that infected milk enters the food supply, they added.

The milk samples that tested positive for bird flu were unpasteurized, according to federal officials.

“There is no threat to the public and there will be no supply shortages,” Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller <a href="https://www.texasagriculture.gov/News-Events/Article/9950/COMMISSIONER-MILLER-SAYS-MYSTERY-DAIRY-COW-DISEASE-HAS-BEEN-IDENTIFIED" target=_blank>said</a> in a news release. “No contaminated milk is known to have entered the food chain; it has all been dumped. In the rare event that some affected milk enters the food chain, the pasteurization process will kill the virus.”

Officials have<b> </b>long cautioned consumers to avoid raw milk, or unpasteurized milk, which can be sold within some states, including Texas and Kansas. The <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/foodsafety/rawmilk/raw-milk-questions-and-answers.html" target=_blank>Centers for Disease Control and Prevention</a> calls raw milk “one of the riskiest foods” and says it is “linked to a variety of foodborne illnesses.”

Texas requires dairy farms selling raw milk to have it <a href="https://www.dshs.texas.gov/milk-dairy-unit/raw-milk-retail-sale" target=_blank>tested</a> every three months. Kansas <a href="https://agriculture.ks.gov/faqs/ld-faq" target=_blank>requires</a> raw milk sales to “take place at the farm where it was produced,” while any advertising and any containers must plainly state that it is raw milk.

The loss of milk from symptomatic cows is too limited to have a major impact on milk supply, federal officials said, meaning “there should be no impact on the price of milk or other dairy products.”

Federal and state officials are investigating primarily older cows in Texas, Kansas and New Mexico. Iowa officials are also “<a href="https://iowaagriculture.gov/news/secretary-naig-comments-usdas-detection-highly-pathogenic-avian-influenza-kansas-and-texas" target=_blank>actively monitoring</a> this evolving situation.”

Unlike outbreaks among poultry, bird flu infections among mammals are expected not to require massive culling efforts, officials said. In rare cases, avian flu has jumped from birds to humans, most notably during an avian influenza outbreak in Hong Kong in 1997, according to the <a href="https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/influenza-(avian-and-other-zoonotic)#:~:text=Signs%20and%20symptoms%20in%20humans,respiratory%20disease%20and%2For%20death." target=_blank>World Health Organization</a>.

Brian Hoefs, a veterinarian and the executive director of the Minnesota Board of Animal Health, said last week that the kid goat’s bird flu infection “highlights the possibility of the virus infecting other animals on farms with multiple species.” 

“Thankfully, research to-date has shown mammals appear to be dead-end hosts, which means they’re unlikely to spread HPAI further,” he <a href="https://www.bah.state.mn.us/news_release/stevens-county-goat-tests-positive-for-same-influenza-virus-affecting-poultry/" target="_blank">added</a> at the time.

Miller said he does not expect a “need to depopulate dairy herds,” and that the affected cattle are “expected to fully recover.”

Cornell University, BA in Economics, History 

Andrew Jeong is a reporter for The Washington Post in its Seoul hub. 

Andrew Jeong

washpost

Bird flu symptoms found in dairy cattle in Texas, Kansas

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