Feds step up response to bird flu in dairy cattle

CHICAGO – The U.S. government will require dairy cattle moving between states to be tested for bird flu starting on Monday, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said on Wednesday, as federal officials ramp up their response to an outbreak in herds.

Vilsack said all laboratories and state veterinarians in the country must report positive tests in livestock for any influenza A, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture would pay for increased testing.

The measures aim to boost the USDA’S understanding of the virus and contain the spread of the disease that has infected 33 dairy herds across eight states over the past month.

The new requirements come a day after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said it had found bird flu virus particles in some samples of pasteurized milk.

The FDA said that because the milk is pasteurized, it remains safe for human consumption as the process kills harmful bacteria and viruses by heating milk to a specific temperature.

The U.S. milk supply is safe “based on the information we currently have available,” Vilsack told reporters. Milk containing bird flu particles entered the commercial supply from asymptomatic cows that were infected, he said.

“The reality is we’ve had situations where we’ve tested asymptomatic herds only to find that they have virus,” Vilsack said.

The USDA has carried out more than 2,000 tests on cattle samples over the last several weeks, Vilsack said.

Dairy cows must test negative for influenza A virus at an approved laboratory before being shipped across state lines, he said. Owners of cows that test positive will be required to provide epidemiological information, including animal movement tracing, Vilsack said.

Positive flu tests will prohibit cows from being moved during a 30-day waiting period and until they test negative, he said.

“Over the last several weeks, USDA has noted spread between cows within the same herd; spread from cows to poultry; spread between dairies associated with cattle movements; and cows without clinical signs that have tested positive,” Vilsack said.

The USDA said last week that cowto-cow transmission was a factor in the spread of bird flu in dairy herds, but it still did not know exactly how the virus was being moved around.

State agriculture officials have said they believed wild birds introduced the virus to cattle. One dairy worker in Texas tested positive, along with dairy herds.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the current public health risk was low, but it was working with states to monitor people with animal exposures.

Live cattle and feeder cattle futures on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange fell on news of the USDA’S plan to expand testing for dairy cows, even though traders were skeptical that the avian flu issue would impact beef cattle.

“The psychology is saying, ‘this is bad.,’ ” said Rich Nelson, chief strategist for brokerage Allendale Inc.