USDA enrolls 15 more states in H5N1 milk testing program
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
Key takeaways:
- Twenty-eight of the 48 contiguous U.S. states have enrolled in the USDA’s National Milk Testing Strategy.
- Of the 28 states, only California and Texas have known active H5N1 detections as of Jan. 8, 2025.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced that 15 more states have enrolled in a national H5N1 milk testing program, raising the number to 28 states, which represents roughly 65% of the nation’s milk production, the agency said.
“Across the country, a strong network of public and private veterinarians, as well as state and local agriculture and health officials, have been working hand-in-hand with USDA to make the National Milk Testing Strategy as robust a weapon as possible in our fight against H5N1,” U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said in a press release.
Alabama, Arizona, Delaware, Iowa, Georgia, Kansas, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, Nevada, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Utah and Virginia joined 13 states that enrolled in the program in December. The already-enrolled 13 states were California, Colorado, Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, Mississippi, Montana, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Vermont and Washington.
The eventual goal, the USDA said, is for all 48 contiguous states to test milk in hope of preventing the spread of H5N1 among dairy cows and transmission to humans or other animals.
There are five stages for highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza testing, according to the USDA. Of the 28 states the agency has enrolled in the program:
- 11 are in stage 2, which includes state-level bulk tank sampling programs already;
- two states are in stage 1, which means that silo testing has started or is set to begin; and
- California is in stage 3, which means the state has detected H5N1 and has rapid response measures in place to address the situation.
The USDA has detected H5N1 in dairy herds in California and Texas in the last 30 — the only two states with known active detections of bird flu, according to the agency.
As of Jan. 10, the CDC reported that 924 dairy herds in 16 states have been affected by H5N1 since March 25, 2024. Bird flu has also been detected in nearly 11,000 wild birds in 51 U.S. jurisdictions and nearly 134 million poultry in all 50 U.S. states.
Since April 2024, there have been 66 confirmed H5N1 cases in humans, according to the CDC, including 40 linked to bird flu exposure at dairy farms, 23 to commercial poultry, one linked to a backyard bird flock and one from an unknown exposure. Another seven probable human cases have also been linked to commercial poultry farms.
Louisiana health officials reported the first bird flu-related death in the U.S. this month in a person who had been hospitalized the month before with the country’s first severe human case of H5N1.
The CDC continues to say that the threat to the general public from bird flu remains low.
References:
- CDC. Bird flu: H5 bird flu: Current situation. https://www.cdc.gov/bird-flu/situation-summary/index.html. Updated Jan. 13, 2025. Accessed Jan. 13, 2025
- U.S. Department of Agriculture announces 15 additional states onboard with national milk testing strategy for H5N1, shares update on vaccination efforts. https://www.usda.gov/about-usda/news/press-releases/2025/01/08/us-department-agriculture-announces-15-additional-states-onboard-national-milk-testing-strategy-h5n1. Published Jan. 8, 2025. Accessed Jan. 13, 2025.
Collapse
Read more about
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts