The Hagstrom Report
Wednesday, April 24, 2024 | Alert | Volume 14 Number 82

USDA to require testing of dairy cattle before interstate movement due to bird flu

Reacting to the spread of highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza in dairy cattle, the Agriculture Department’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) will require starting Monday testing of all dairy cattle before interstate movement and a negative test before movement, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced today.

APHIS will also require that laboratories and state veterinarians report positive Influenza A nucleic acid detection diagnostic results (e.g. PCR or genetic sequencing) in livestock and positive Influenza A serology diagnostic results in livestock.

USDA has identified spread between cows within the same herd, spread from cows to poultry, spread between dairies associated with cattle movements, and cows without clinical signs that have tested positive, USDA noted in a news release. (See link below).

In a call to reporters, Vilsack said USDA will pay for all the testing.

“We have been confronted with a novel circumstance,” Vilsack said, referring to the spread of what was considered bird flu to cattle and even from cattle to poultry. He said the spread from cattle to poultry occurred on farms with both dairy and poultry operations. The spread could have occurred due to a worker moving from the milking parlor to the poultry barn or from equipment.

An April 16 examination of a cow in Kansas showed the virus adapting to mammals but the risk to humans remains low, he said. The Biden administration is working with groups to inform farmworkers of the situation, he added.

“This has been and continues to be a complex circumstance,” Vilsack said, adding that USDA needs more information about what is going on.

He repeated previous statements that the milk supply is safe. Fragments of the virus have been found in milk, but those fragments were not live because the milk had been pasteurized and pasteurization eliminates the virus’s ability to be infectious. The milk with the virus got into the milk supply because asymptomatic cows were milked. Cows with symptoms produce discolored milk, which is thrown away, he said.

Vilsack added that he put cream in his coffee this morning and had a cheese sandwich for lunch.

APHIS has conducted more than 2,000 tests, Vilsack said.

▪ APHIS – Federal order requiring testing for and reporting of HPAI in livestock
▪ USDA – HPAI detections in livestock