Dairy cattle in Texas and Kansas test positive for bird flu

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP

By MIKE STOBBE and JONEL ALECCIA
Updated 6:45 PM CDT, March 25, 2024

Milk from dairy cows in Texas and Kansas has tested positive for bird flu, U.S. officials said Monday.

Officials with the Texas Animal Health Commission confirmed the flu virus is the Type A H5N1 strain, known for decades to cause outbreaks in birds and to occasionally infect people. The virus is affecting older dairy cows in those states and in New Mexico, causing decreased lactation and low appetite.

It comes a week after officials in Minnesota announced that goats on a farm where there had been an outbreak of bird flu among poultry were diagnosed with the virus. It’s believed to be the first time bird flu — also known as highly pathogenic avian influenza — was found in U.S. livestock.

The commercial milk supply is safe and risk to people is low, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Dairies are required to only allow milk from healthy animals to enter the food supply, and milk from the sick animals is being diverted or destroyed. Pasteurization also kills viruses and other bacteria, and the process is required for milk sold through interstate commerce, the agency said.



Read more: https://apnews.com/article/bird-flu-dairy-cattle-usda-kansas-texas-c3040bb31a9a8293717d47362f006902

[50 Shades Of Blue]

1. Raw milk is a real fundie thing these days....

[Rebl2]

5. Was just

thinking same thing.

[Jirel]

2. This is so bad on many levels.

Cows recover, so it’s not a problem, right? Wrong.

First, if we have herds of cattle catching it, we have a huge new reservoir for this crap where birds and other animals can contract it.

Also, dead birds were found near the sick cattle. That means that we are likely looking at another huge year for wild bird deaths.

While some other species have caught it previously, we had not seen any major new jumps. We now see cattle affected in larger numbers, not just an off-case. We have also seen it in a goat, which may not bode well.

[TeamProg]

4. The good news is that the plastic in our blood stream is resistant to bacteria

and viruses, and helps against diseases by keeping them boxed up in little plastic containers.

Yay!

[ArkansasDemocrat1]

8. That isn't what I thought of when I watched Dustin Hoffman get advice about the future

[TeamProg]

10. Right, plastics! Same with George Bailey's brother in It's a Wonderful Life.. plastics!

[limbicnuminousity]

15. Thank you! I knew

there was a light at the end of this tunnel.

[sybylla]

6. Also gives it a vector closer to humans so it can evolve to make that jump

more easily. This is likely the next pandemic.

This is a very bad, bad thing.

[kimbutgar]

3. 3-2-1 milk and beef prices go up and the right wing will blame the Biden administration for those states failure

To control the outbreak.

[Bayard]

7. Johnes Disease

This one has been very scary for years. My pet Brahma steer in Calif. died from it. I stopped eating beef years ago, even though its mostly found in dairy cattle.

"Johne's disease is a contagious, chronic, and usually fatal infection that affects primarily the small intestine of ruminants. Johne's disease is caused by Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis (M. avium subsp. paratuberculosis), a hardy bacterium related to the agents of leprosy and TB."

And:

"some evidence suggests that humans may become infected via contaminated milk. Currently, it is not known whether commercial pasteurization effectively kills M. paratuberculosis in contaminated raw milk."

Its been linked to Crohn's Disease in humans.

[ArkansasDemocrat1]

9. I knew someone with Crohn's, I wouldn't wish it on my worst...oh yeah, I would wish P01135809 catches it n/t

[Bayard]

11. He would probably fit the explosive diarrhea symptom,

But not the chronic wasting away,. Well....maybe just his brain.

[NickB79]

12. "Pet Brahma steer"

You don't hear that every day 🤣

[Bayard]

13. He was great

Cowster. Loved being petted, and peppermints.

[dembotoz]

14. infected cattle destroyed...as in now on sale in the beef cooler at your local kroger?

[Wonder Why]

16. Texans and Kansans have always had birdbrain flu.

That pic is from NM, not Texas and it looks like the bird is checking out the potential victims.


i lived within a mile of one of those feedlots. They were not farms, just feedlots. No "deer and antelope play" areas.