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The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced Wednesday that it is issuing a federal order requiring more testing and reporting of H5N1 influenza in dairy cows.
The USDA previously required reporting of H5N1 influenza in poultry and wild birds, but producers are not required to notify the government if cows test positive — a reason the USDA admits has hindered its ability to investigate current outbreaks in cattle. Since cases were confirmed in dairy cows in Texas and Kansas in late March, 33 farms in eight states have identified cases.
The new order is part of the government's crackdown on the H5N1 flu, which has hit birds hard and has recently started infecting a growing number of mammals, which could bring it to the point where it can spread more efficiently among them. People.
The USDA said at a multi-agency news conference Wednesday that the new order will help it get more information on the growing outbreak.
“Some producers have been a little reluctant to let us collect data from their farms,” said Dr. Michael Watson, administrator of the USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, or APHIS.
“When the federal system is in place, this will really help us to address potential gaps.”
of ordering Requires dairy cattle moving interstate to be tested for avian flu or any form of influenza A prior to travel. No dairy cattle infected with avian flu can be moved between states that do not have APIS-specified conditions, Watson said.
Currently, the order does not apply to cattle raised for beef, but the USDA said that could change as it learns more about how the virus is spreading. Experts now believe that the virus is spreading through contaminated milk.
According to Watson, the order empowers the government to go to a facility where cattle have tested positive and follow up with further testing and testing if necessary.
“Reporting a positive test helps the USDA better understand the disease, and testing before interstate movement limits the spread of the virus,” he said.
The tests have to be sent to a lab, and it can take several days to get results, Watson said, but the government is working on developing rapid tests that can provide results faster on the farm.
The order says the US government will pay the cost of H5N1 testing for farms, even if the animals are asymptomatic.
The H5N1 virus that spreads in cows has not been reported to be transmissible from person to person, and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the risk to public health is low. Only one person, a farm worker in Texas, has tested positive for the outbreak. The CDC says 22 other people have tested positive for the virus, and states say 44 others are presumed exposed and at risk of contracting the disease.
The CDC is looking into the possibility of controlling contaminated water, but many farms are not on municipal systems, and there are questions about whether contamination from birds or other infected wildlife could render the results useless.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced Tuesday that it has detected genetic material from the virus in milk off grocery shelves.
The FDA and CDC have long warned of the dangers of drinking raw or unpasteurized milk, which can carry dangerous germs.
The FDA does not believe that pasteurized milk products can lead to infection, but is conducting confirmatory tests to confirm.
“We expect the results of those studies to be available in the next few days to weeks,” Don Prater, acting director of the FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, said at a news conference Wednesday.
Prater declined to say where the milk that showed symptoms of the virus was purchased or how widespread the outbreak was.
“We don't have any information to share yet, but it will be out soon,” he said.