Since the first reported cases of avian influenza in dairy cows on March 25, scientific investigations have intensified, with investigation results and expert opinions being published on a weekly basis.
Meanwhile, farmers and ranchers are worried and looking for more ways to protect their livestock and understand more about the spread of the virus. Strong warnings against drinking raw milk have placed the avian flu virus in the foodborne disease category, but this may just be the beginning.
Scott Hensley, a microbiology professor at the University of Pennsylvania, said this week that the pandemic threat is currently low but “could increase rapidly.”
That was a little more optimistic than the prediction made by Robert Redfield, former director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, who predicted last month that it was only a matter of time before humans were hit by a bird flu pandemic, saying “bird flu can jump to humans” and could result in “significant mortality.”
A report published July 8 in Nature from the University of Wisconsin-Madison has found that the mammary glands of dairy cows are a target of the H5N1 avian virus, a finding that may not be limited to dairy cows: an avian flu virus from an infected human in 2004 also infected the mammary glands of mice and ferrets.
Further experiments have shown that the virus is not very effective at spreading through the air.
Colorado, which has had direct impacts on commercial poultry and dairy cattle, became an epicenter of avian flu over the recent Fourth of July weekend. On July 3, another farm worker was reported to have been infected with avian flu linked to dairy cattle.
Since the beginning of 2022, the CDC has reported five human cases of avian influenza.
“Based on currently available information, CDC’s current health risk assessment of H5N1 avian influenza to the U.S. general public remains low,” the CDC’s official statement continued.
And Colorado Governor Jared Polis was forced to declare a disaster on a Weld County farm before the end of the Fourth of July weekend, where avian flu at the egg farm killed an additional 1.8 million chickens — another avian flu outbreak at a commercial farm that lost 6 million chickens to the virus.
The Governor’s declaration activates the state’s emergency response plan and makes additional resources available for the response.
(Click here to sign up for a free subscription to Food Safety News)