Federal Reaction to Bird Flu Outbreaks on Dairy Farms Is Faulty, Say Scientists

Few details have been released by officials, who claim the outbreak was contained. But in North Carolina, asymptomatic cows have altered the evaluation.

The public has been repeatedly told by federal officials that the outbreak of avian flu on dairy farms does not affect the country's food or milk supply and does not pose a significant risk to public health in the month since it was first reported.

However, the cow outbreak might be more catastrophic than first thought. The Department of Agriculture announced this week in a confusing web update that there is now proof the virus is spreading among cows and from cows to poultry.

The New York Times has revealed that North Carolina officials have found bird flu illnesses in a herd of cattle that show no symptoms; the U.S.D.A. has not made this information public. The results imply that the infections might be more common than previously believed.

It is unknown if there are asymptomatic animals in other locations because farms are not required by the U.S.D.A. to screen their cattle for infection. Farmers have been reimbursed for testing costs, but only for the first 20 clearly sick cows on each farm. The department announced last week that it will start paying farms to test cows who don't exhibit any symptoms.

In order to better understand how the virus may be changing as it spreads, federal officials have provided scientists and officials in other nations with restricted genetic information about the virus.

Pigs are renowned for being excellent hosts for flu viruses that are constantly developing, and they are frequently housed close to cattle, but they are not regularly monitoring illnesses in pigs. In addition, authorities have stated that they lack concrete evidence about the safety of milk, expressing "no concern."

The public was reassured that pasteurised milk was safe by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Food and Drug Administration, and the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention in a joint statement released in March. However, the FDA is still testing to see if the procedure gets rid of the infection. When those test results would be available was something the FDA declined to comment on.

Even though there is very little risk to humans, some experts say the agencies should never have declared the milk safe before obtaining the necessary data.

"I recognise that the dairy industry is highly apprehensive about a reduction of even a small percentage in milk intake," University of Minnesota infectious disease specialist Dr. Michael Osterholm stated.

However, he continued, "it is not going to serve them well to think that you can avoid this kind of discussion by just giving absolutes."

He and other experts argued that the federal approach to date is reminiscent of the mistakes made early in the pandemic. Dr. Osterholm remarked, "It appears they took little note of the communication lessons that Covid taught us."

The head veterinarian for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Dr. Rosemary Sifford, stated in an interview this week that the investigations involved over a dozen federal epidemiologists, almost twice as many lab workers, field staff, and partners from state and academic institutions.\

She remarked, "Please keep in mind that we have been involved in this for less than a month." "We are putting in a lot of effort to produce more information."

Only the viral genetic sequences from sick cows are being examined by U.S.D.A. personnel, but information will be made available to outside specialists "in the very, very near future," according to Dr. Sifford.
"We acknowledge that additional knowledge about the broader context is necessary," she continued.

The director of the Johns Hopkins Centre for Health Security at the Bloomberg School of Public Health, Dr. Tom Inglesby, stated that foreign experts could already be assisting in the containment of the virus if the department were more forthcoming.

"Those were the long-gone days when a government agency could keep all of its data and handle it on its own," he remarked.

A portion of the issue, according to certain analysts, stems from the U.S.D.A.'s historical dual role of overseeing and advancing the agricultural industry.

The Kansas Farmers Union president, Donn Teske, stated, "We all want farms to succeed and we want that steady food supply for the American consumer." "But there is a little bit of a problem there when you are also assigned the oversight."

The present iteration of the bird flu virus has been known to infect poultry, wild birds, and, more recently, a variety of mammals since 2020.

The dairy cow infection has reached 32 herds across eight states as of Friday afternoon: Texas, New Mexico, Michigan, Kansas, Idaho, Ohio, North Carolina, and South Dakota.

How the outbreak started on dairy farms is unknown. According to preliminary evidence, the virus may have spread to cows in the Texas Panhandle and New Mexico, where it was first discovered, according to Dr. Sifford.

Thus yet, the H5N1 virus in cattle appears to harm primarily nursing cows, and then only for a short while. No deaths, diagnoses in calves, or in pregnant heifers or beef cows have occurred. However, in at least one case in Texas, the virus seems to have returned, this time from cows to chickens.

The chicken flock and the diseased herd were on different farms. However, the Texas Animal Health Commission claims that the virus might have spread between them by humans or animals who came into touch with items tainted with milk containing the virus.

The virus appears to be present in high concentrations in the milk of infected cows. (The U.S.D.A. is not testing animal faeces, which are a common source of viruses, and has only tested a small number of animals using nasal swabs.)

Dairy farms usually deep clean their milking equipment at least once a day; it is not sterilised. It is advised that those who milk cows use face shields, masks, or safety glasses, however these suggestions are frequently disregarded.

When cows contract H5N1, their milk output abruptly declines and turns brownish and viscous. The head of the Wisconsin Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory, Dr. Keith Poulsen, stated, "We've never seen anything like this before."

(A representative for the agricultural department of North Carolina stated that the milk from infected but asymptomatic cows appears unaltered.)

In interviews, a few specialists questioned the U.S.D.A.'s testing guidelines, which up until this week only guaranteed payment for a group of animals that were plainly sick. Because they weren't searching for illnesses, farmers might not have discovered many of them.

An epidemiologist at the Johns Hopkins Centre for Health Security named Caitlin Rivers stressed the importance of widely testing animals early in epidemics to determine the scope and potential modes of viral transmission.

Many experts have observed that pigs are crucial to flu surveillance because they can contract both human and avian flu. They could serve as "mixing bowls," giving H5N1 the capacity to spread effectively among humans.

According to Dr. Sifford, the U.S.D.A. is neither testing pigs nor requesting that farmers do so.

A state official must give their clearance before testing cows for H5N1 illness. When milk samples are received from an accredited veterinarian, they are usually sent in tubes with a unique identity, wrapped in insulated coolers, and delivered to a lab recognised by the U.S.D.A. Afterwards, the national lab of the U.S.D.A. located in Iowa verifies positive samples.

According to Dr. Inglesby, every action slows down the quick reaction required to contain an outbreak. He emphasised that tests had to be simple, affordable, and available.

According to Dr. Sifford, a "small number" of samples from symptom-free cows have already been sent to the U.S.D.A. According to an agency statement, the department "strongly recommends testing before herds are moved between states, which includes asymptomatic herds."

Farmers and some state health authorities have already expressed dissatisfaction with the federal strategy. According to Dr. Joe Armstrong, a veterinarian at the University of Minnesota Extension, a number of farms in Minnesota—not one of the eight states with documented cases—are sending samples of cow blood to private labs for testing for antibodies to the virus, which would indicate a current or previous infection.
Dr. Amy Swinford, the head of the Texas A&M Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory, stated that some dairy producers are hesitant to test because they are concerned that concerns about bird flu could negatively impact their business.

"I believe there are a lot more dairies that have experienced this than the ones from which we have received samples," she remarked.
Rick Naerebout, CEO of the Idaho Dairymen's Association, stated that low milk prices and high feed costs are a challenge for dairy farmers.
"The economic situation is already quite challenging, and to consider potentially losing 20 percent of your earnings for a two- to four-week period - that's really adding a lot of anxiety to the situation," he stated.

A week after learning of a bird flu outbreak in the Texas Panhandle, Idaho banned the entry of cows from that region. Despite those safety measures, having an infected herd in Idaho "was kind of a gut shot," according to Mr. Naerebout.

International Dairy Foods Association spokesman Matt Herrick stated that federal officials ought to provide farmers with more tools and resources so they can defend themselves, and they ought to disseminate information more broadly, especially on social media.

The U.S.D.A.'s homepage makes no mention of the avian flu outbreak. The department's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service last released a statement regarding an epidemic on April 2.

It is unknown how long it might take to create vaccines to protect cattle against H5N1, but the U.S.D.A. is investigating the possibility. Many farmers and veterinarians, according to Dr. Armstrong of the University of Minnesota Extension, are hoping that the virus would "burn itself out."

Rather, it might develop into a persistent issue. "The objective is to get ready for that," he stated. "Not for this hopeful notion that it will simply disappear."

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