U.S. Says Bird Flu Has Affected Dairy Cattle

(VitalNews.org) – Multiple agencies in the United States have said that the bird flu has spread to dairy cattle. The cows that have been affected have been found all over the United States and officials are pushing the importance of consuming only pasteurized dairy products.

The spread of bird flu has been confirmed as they have tested sick cattle from dairy farms in Kansas and Texas; those tests came back positive for highly pathogenic avian influenza. This disease has been impacting bird populations for a few years now and it’s caused a lot of mortality within the bird species.

This is the first time that this flu has been found in dairy cattle and it’s actually just been found in some goats in Minnesota. We’ve even seen the bird flu hit polar bears over the summertime and spread to marine animals as well.

According to a few agencies who study this, they have said bird flu started showing up in cattle after dairy cows were found to be experiencing decreased lactation and low appetite, among other symptoms. Following this, swabs were taken to test the animals and all of them came back positive.

There’s not much research here as most animals who get bird flu get it from consuming an infected bird, however, experts have said that transmission between cattle cannot be ruled out. Cattle owners are encouraged to not move their cattle and to test them if they do, plus to keep sick cattle isolated away from the rest.

Although cattle are experiencing a low milk supply because of this, the government says that the supply is not low enough to have an effect on the supply. “There should be no impact on the price of milk or other dairy products,” the agencies said. “Further, the U.S. typically has a more than sufficient milk supply in the spring months due to seasonally higher production.”

They have also said that milk products are still safe to consume as long as they are pasteurized and only from healthy animals. They’ve also said that milk they get from sick animals is being destroyed or disposed of so that it does not go into the human food supply.