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Avian Influenza In Cattle People can remain confident that the dairy and meat products in our nation’s food supply pose functionally zero risk of transmitting avian influenza to humans. This is among several key messages from Virginia and federal veterinary and human health officials who last week announced new surveillance strategies at the farm level to monitor the presence of the H5N1 variant of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI-H5N1). The confirmation that dairy cattle had in recent months contracted HPAIH5N1 has prompted USDA, the CDC, and other health and agriculture agencies to increase their surveillance efforts. From a recent USDA press release: “... The novel movement of H5N1 between wild birds and dairy cows requires further testing and time to develop a critical understanding to support any future courses of action.” The movement of HPAI-H5N1 from wild birds to cattle is currently being described by disease scientists as “novel” because it had not previously been observed or described.
Human health and agriculture government agencies have increased their surveillance of animal and food industry supply chains because the different avenues of transmission of the H5N1 virus have yet to be fully understood and there is potential for a more virulent strain of H5N1 to emerge at any time. Taking steps now to better describe and track the virus empowers our food and farming systems to learn and adapt to not-yet-existent microbiological challenges.
At this writing, no cattle (dairy or beef type) in Virginia has been confirmed to have been infected with Avian Influenza H5N1. Given the widespread prevalence of this variant in the wild bird population, some veterinary experts anticipate more cattle will test positive for H5N1 in coming weeks.
Recent headlines in the media designed to grab public attention highlight the confirmation of H5N1 genetic material in milk from supermarkets. Here it is important to understand that the process of harvesting and consuming milk always introduces a certain number of bacteria and viruses into milk, this is why milk is pasteurized. T he pasteurization process destroys bacteria and viruses but some remnants of the genetic material from these pathogens remains. These molecules pose no risk to humans but they do serve as markers for scientist trying to get a grasp of how wide spread the virus is across our nation’s dairy farms. Human health and veterinary scientists track the occurrence of this genetic material because it helps them better understand how the virus in behaving in the environment.
As of this writing, HPAI H5N1 poses no functional threat to the general population. People should take comfort in the diligent public service being provided by our human health and veterinary scientists at the state and federal levels who are carefully monitoring our agriculture and food systems and the transparent manner in which they are providing updates on their findings.
