H5N1 (Eurasian lineage goose/Guangdong clade 2.3.4.4b)) has been confirmed in cows in Texas, Kansas and Michigan. Presumptive positive tests have been reported for New Mexico and Idaho. H5N1 has been found in the milk of infected dairy cows. The virus is spreading cow to cow, apparently with fairly good efficiency.
Bird flu has been detected in a dairy herd from Montcalm County.
The cases are believed to be linked to bird flu (HPAI) cases found in cattle in Texas. The farm recently received cattle from an affected area in Texas before that herd was known to have bird flu. When the cattle were moved from Texas to Michigan they did not appear ill.
Click On Detroit, Kayla Clark, March 30, 2024
This is evidence of asymptomatic cows spreading the virus to other cows.
According to the USDA:
Among the dairies whose herds are exhibiting symptoms, the affected animals have recovered after isolation with little to no associated mortality reported.
This is surprising as H5N1 has been reported to cause severe symptoms, including brain damage, in most animals, including humans, that it infects. In humans, the case fatality rate for H5N1 infection is 53%. Why would a virus that is lethal to such disparate animals as chickens, ducks, opossums, seals, foxes, skunks, otters, mountain lions, tigers, raccoons, bears, goats and humans be relatively harmless in cows? The lack of curiosity on the part of federal officials about this puzzling finding is itself odd. If we assume that dairy cows initially got infected as a result of exposure to wild birds, surely cattle raised for beef have had the same exposure and are likely infected as well (as suggested by moderator JH at ProMED).
When poultry have been found infected with H5N1, the standard operating procedure is to destroy the whole flock, burn and bury the carcasses and not allow any of the infected birds to enter the human food chain. This is not the policy for cows, however. We are told that milk from obviously sick cows will be diverted away from products for humans. Since this virus has such apparently mild symptoms in cows, surely some infected milk will be processed for human consumption. We are told that pasteurization will kill any virus in milk.
Farmers who are impatient about waiting for their cows to "recover", are being allowed to slaughter them for beef.
Idaho's Leibsle said "not all dairy producers will want to wait one, two, three weeks" for dairy cows to recover. Some producers may decide to send the animals to slaughter as beef animals, he said. All those cattle will undergo the same rigorous food safety protocols.
Lena H. Sun, Washington Post, March 29, 2024
Excuse me, but rigorous food safety protocols would prevent infected meat from getting into the human food chain. This infected meat will likely be eaten by humans in the form of hamburgers and sausage. It is worth mentioning that the carnivores in the list of animals killed by H5N1 are presumed to have been infected by eating animals with the virus. We are told that properly cooked meat should kill the virus. This is probably true. However...
Raw milk and milk products are consumed by millions of Americans. This unpasteurized milk could presumably be a source of infection. In addition, no process is 100% effective. It is entirely possible that pasteurization will fail in some places, at some times. Long ago, I worked at a fast food restaurant and know what goes on in the back kitchen. Suffice it to say, sanitary conditions were not a priority. Perhaps it will not be surprising to discover that teenagers working for minimum wage may not properly cook all the hamburgers. Will they themselves be at risk when they handle infected raw meat? What about slaughterhouse workers and meat packers? Of course, farm workers will be at prime risk for exposure and infection. The CDC recently came out with a CYA announcement about wearing N95s when working with infected cows, but come on, how many farmers are going to go deep into a CDC website looking for something like this? Let's be honest, the vast majority of farm workers will have no idea the risk they run by working with dairy cows and cattle.
Why is the policy of preventing infected animal products so different for poultry and cows? Is it based on science? None that I can think of. This leaves money and politics. The dairy and cattle industries are large (100 billion dollars, each) and have tremendous lobbying power in Washington. Consider what would happen if dairy and cattle operations were required to depopulate their herds if one animal was found to be infected as is policy for poultry. There would be a huge financial loss. If this problem is widespread, and it is likely that it is, this could lead to a shortage of dairy products and beef. This would be followed by massive food inflation. Restaurants, especially in the fast food industry, would go bankrupt. It is an election year. I believe, but have no proof, that the Biden administration is leaning hard on federal officials to avoid saying or requiring anything that would lead to food shortages, bankruptcies or inflation - the health of the American people be damned. Governors in Ag states are probably also terrified of what will happen if the basis for their economies were to be destroyed. I'm sure the hope is that this "blows over" and by avoiding publicity an economic disaster will be averted. They are crossing their fingers and hoping for the best. I hope that they are right. However, if they are wrong and Americans start dying of H5N1 because obvious public health measures were not taken, God help us all.
References:
USDA, FDA and CDC Share Update on HPAI Detections in Dairy Cattle
https://www.aphis.usda.gov/news/agency-announcements/usda-fda-cdc-share-update-hpai-detections-dairy-cattle
USDA, March 29, 2024
Detections of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza in Mammals
https://www.aphis.usda.gov/livestock-poultry-disease/avian/avian-influenza/hpai-detections/mammals
USDA, March 21, 2024
USDA Avian Influenza Response: Mass Depopulation and Carcass Disposal
https://www.aphis.usda.gov/media/document/1286/file
USDA, May 2015
Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza A(H5N1) Virus in Animals: Interim Recommendations for Prevention, Monitoring, and Public Health Investigations
https://www.cdc.gov/flu/avianflu/hpai/hpai-interim-recommendations.html
CDC, March 29, 2024
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