The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has confirmed that the bird flu outbreak on dairy farms could be far graver than initially perceived. Evidence seems to suggest that the virus is not just proliferating amongst cows, but also transmitting from cows to poultry. This revelation comes after officials in North Carolina identified bird flu infections in a symptomless cattle herd, a fact yet to be publicly disclosed by the USDA. This discovery leads us to believe that these infections may be significantly more widespread than initially estimated.
The Department of Agriculture currently does not mandate farms to test their cattle for infection. Prior to this week, their policy was to reimburse farmers only for testing visibly ill cows, limiting the compensation to 20 cows per farm. However, the department has now announced that it will start reimbursing farms for testing asymptomatic cows. It’s crucial to mention that Federal officials, so far, have only shared sparse genetic information about the virus with foreign scientists and officials. This is critical data that could aid in understanding how the virus is evolving and spreading.
Interestingly, the federal officials have turned a blind eye to monitoring infections in pigs. Pigs, renowned for being highly effective hosts for evolving flu viruses, are frequently kept in close proximity to cattle, leading to potential cross-species infection risks.
“The federal response so far echoes early missteps during the pandemic, demonstrating an unsettling lack of learning from the communication lessons that COVID-19 has taught us.”
In a joint statement released in March, the USDA, Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention assured the public of the safety of pasteurized milk. However, the FDA is still conducting tests to ascertain whether the pasteurization process effectively eliminates the virus. Some experts argue that these agencies may have been premature in asserting milk safety even before they had supporting data, in spite of the purported low risk to humans.
Despite the urgency, USDA staff are primarily focusing on the analysis of only viral genetic sequences drawn from sick cows. However, they have assured that they will release this crucial information for outside experts in the “very, very near future”.
The bird flu outbreak, unfortunately, has permeated 32 herds in eight states, including Texas, New Mexico, Michigan, Kansas, Idaho, Ohio, North Carolina, and South Dakota. This version of the virus has been circulating since 2020 in poultry, wild birds, and a wide range of mammals. As of this Friday afternoon, the outbreak has infiltrated 32 herds across the eight aforementioned states.
The virus, scientifically known as H5N1, primarily affects lactating cows and only temporarily impacts their health. Still, the potential spillover from cows to poultry presents a situation of grave concern. The Texas Animal Health Commission suspects that the virus may have been transported between them through contact with objects contaminated with virus-laden milk. Infected cows, disturbingly, appear to carry large amounts of the virus in their milk.
Some experts have voiced their criticisms of the USDA’s testing recommendations, citing that farmers may not have noticed many infections simply because they were not searching for them. Widespread and comprehensive testing strategies, inclusive of symptomatic and asymptomatic animals, is incredibly important in the early stages of such outbreaks to duly comprehend the scale and possible mechanisms of viral transmission.
In this context, pigs play a crucial role in flu surveillance due to their susceptibility to both avian and human flu viruses. However, the lack of government directives to test pigs or encourage farmers to do so may present a considerable blind spot in our disease surveillance efforts.
The federal response has frustrated several state health departments and farmers. Some farms in Minnesota have taken matters into their own hands and are sending samples of cow blood to private labs for testing. Other dairy farmers, however, are reluctant to test, fearing that the stigma associated with bird flu could negatively impact their business. Moreover, currently, dairy farmers are grappling with decreased milk prices and inflated feed costs, adding to the reluctance. Federal officials share the responsibility of equipping farmers with more resources and better protective gear and should commit to transparent communication.
The last communication regarding this outbreak from the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, a division of the USDA, was released on April 2.
