United States: In Iowa, a third herd of dairy cattle has been diagnosed with highly pathogenic avian influenza, as per the recent announcement from the state’s Department of Agriculture on Wednesday.
This specific group of cows consists of 1700 cows, and the location of this particular herd is Sioux County — the place where the previous cases of dairy were confirmed only a week ago. Before this first case, the primary emergence was on June 5 with the O’Brien; this county is located right next to Sioux County in the northwestern area of Iowa, as reported by desmoinesregister.com.
H5N1 avian flu or bird flu affects cows and initially it was observed that these affected cows would die when they tested positive for H5N1 virus. Some signs are a sharp decrease in demand for food and a decrease in the productivity of cows, they give less milk.
While the virus poses fatal risks to birds, wild migratory birds are believed to carry it without displaying any apparent signs of illness, making containment challenging.
Iowa has now experienced its second avian flu outbreak this year, affecting 4.2 million hens in Sioux County in May and 103,000 turkeys in Cherokee County more recently. Since 2022, Iowa recognized as a leading producer of eggs in the United States, has been compelled to euthanize approximately 23.3 million chickens, turkeys, and other poultry in efforts to curb the spread of the disease, according to desmoinesregister.com.
The virus has now spread to cattle in 11 states besides Iowa. Moreover, three dairy workers in the US who had direct contact with infected cows have been diagnosed with mild cases of avian flu. Just last week, Mexico reported the first human fatality from avian flu in the current wave of infections, according to information from the World Health Organization.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have stated that the current public health risk remains low. Nevertheless, they continue to closely monitor the situation and collaborate with state authorities to track individuals with potential animal exposures.
State and federal agencies have come out in the press saying that consumers have nothing to worry as the country is still safe in terms of what they consume, the foods they eat. A number of restrictions exist in terms of origin of milk, and the majority of milk is pasteurized to get rid to the bacterias and viruses that may cause harm to consumers, as per desmoinesregister.com.
However, federal officials warned the people of Iowa against taking raw milk due to the likelihood it might disclose the virus to the consumers. Currently, Iowa features as one of the 30 or so states that permit the sale of raw/Processed milk.
Additionally, Mike Naig, Iowa’s Agriculture Secretary, disclosed on Friday that the state department has petitioned for federal assistance to aid affected poultry and dairy farms in Iowa. The requested aid encompasses financial compensation for dairy cows culled due to the disease and losses in dairy production, as well as updated indemnity guidelines for poultry reflecting more accurate market values of affected birds and eggs.
Furthermore, the agriculture department has committed to conducting screenings of dairy operations situated near poultry flocks infected with H5N1, among other preventative measures.