USDA on Wednesday said it plans to sample milk in states where dairy herds have been infected with avian flu in an effort to stamp out the virus. It was first confirmed in Texas in March before spreading to herds in 14 states.
USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) said in a news release that although the number of states with “known avian influenza detections in dairy herds” has dropped from 14 to two, “USDA believes that additional steps are needed to proactively support effective biosecurity measures, which are key for states and farmers to contain and eliminate H5N1 infections from their livestock.”
APHIS said that in partnership with state veterinarians, USDA will implement a tiered strategy to collect milk samples to better assess where H5N1 is present, with the goal to better inform biosecurity and containment measures, as well as to inform state-led efforts to reduce risk to farm workers who may be in contact with animals infected with H5N1.
Also on Wednesday, USDA and the Oregon Department of Agriculture announced the first detection of H5N1 in swine in the United States, which was detected in a non-commercial farm operation in Oregon. More information on that announcement can be found here.
However, USDA communications chief Cathy Cochran told Agri-Pulse that the strain found in the Oregon pig “is not the strain that has been found in dairy cattle and other poultry facilities.” Genetic sequencing for the pig is still underway.
“Analysis for the poultry on the farm indicates the virus is consistent with other strains associated with wild birds. It is H5N1, but not the strain that’s been associated with cows,” Cochran said.
