Bird Flu in Dairy Cattle

[BurbMum]

It’s been confirmed that airborne transmission is what is causing the cows to get sick, and 10% are now dying or not recovering & being culled.

Virus has been found in 1/5 of milk on the shelves (potentially killed by pasteurization but it’s a rather hardy virus)

There are 86 farms with confirmed infections and it’s been found in field mice as well as dozens of mammals.

Vaccine production for humans is very limited (may be enough for ~1 in 4 people within 6 months)

Just sharing info for us high-contact peoples… do with it what you will.

https://www.aphis.usda.gov/livestock-poultry-disease/avian/avian-influenza/hpai-detections/mammals

Edited to fix numbers & spelling lol

 

[BurbMum]

States currently affected (many are not testing). H5N1 is also being found in wastewater is a few states.

 

[aliris]

It’s been confirmed that airborne transmission is what is causing the cows to get sick, and 10% are now dying or not recovering & being culled.

Virus has been found in 1/5 of milk on the shelves (potentially killed by pasteurization but it’s a rather hardy virus)

There are 86 farms with confirmed infections and it’s been found in field mice as well as dozens of mammals.

Vaccine production for humans is very limited (may be enough for ~1 in 4 people within 6 months)

Just sharing info for us high-contact peoples… do with it what you will.

https://www.aphis.usda.gov/livestock-poultry-disease/avian/avian-influenza/hpai-detections/mammals

Edited to fix numbers & spelling lol

Wow. @BurbMum - you seem well-versed. How not to improperly "misbelieve" this fear mongering? I live in LA where H5N1 has just been detected in waste water 5 miles or so south of us. There are lots and lots of tiny birdies around and they squirt through the netting we use for our birds (who also regularly fly or slip out, it has to be admitted). The biosecurity tips - changing shoes at the gate, masking to clean, etc - seem important to know of... but from a practical standpoint must/should these be followed?

It's hard to evaluate legitimate fear, (over)caution, reasonable prudency. The survival rate of H5N1 is obviously scary. But its incidence is really, really, tiny....

Some guidance from the experienced is helpful to hear.

BTW in terms of evaluating what is "fear mongering", life-long virologists were quite surprised to see H5N1 jump to cows. These things can - and do - happen, but not often. And it is also the case that our warming world makes a lot of experiential knowledge less relevant -- things they be a-changing and "growing speed in the going".

Anyway, I appreciate very much the information and any thoughts you might have.

Virologists discussing H5N1: https://www.microbe.tv/twiv/twiv-1113/

 

[Perris]

Co-incidentally, this was published here on 8 Nov: it makes interesting reading imo.

https://assets.publishing.service.g...Report_H5N1_survey_dairy_cattle_2024_v1.4.pdf

Some highlights: "The objective of this survey was to confirm that HPAI H5N1 was not present in dairy cows in GB during that period. At the time of designing the sampling plan, there was no evidence to support silent infection in Great Britain dairy cattle and extensive investigation into the genotypes of H5N1 HPAIV circulating in the UK and Europe had previously demonstrated that the virus causing cattle infection in the US had never been detected outside of those cases reported...

The origin of infection in cattle is undefined although environmental pressure from wild birds is high and practises of utilising composted poultry litter as cattle feed and bedding are all potential methods that might have driven the initial infection event...

Following initiation of infection in cattle, the virus has then been spread across multiple states through cattle movement. Where infectious cattle have been translocated to new farms, the primary mechanism of transmission between cattle is proposed to be facilitated mechanical transfer through milking machinery, equipment, and staff. This route is considered most likely due to the fact that very high titres of virus have been reported in milk from infected cows, often only one quarter of the udder is affected suggesting that the virus cannot readily cause systemic infection if the initial route of exposure and infection is via milking machinery...

H5N1-infected cattle cases in the US have been either subclinical or clinical with virus predominantly found in milk and mammary tissue regardless of clinical disease status. In cattle, clinical signs may include a drop in feed consumption and rumination; clear nasal discharge; and subsequent acute drop in milk production (with colostrum-like milk or no milk produced in severe cases). There may also be abnormal faeces, lethargy, dehydration, and fever. (USDA, 2024c). Clinical disease typically lasts for between 10 days and 2 weeks although longer term shedding profiles remain to be investigated. Affected cattle recover with supportive treatment, with little or no directly attributed mortality (AVMA, 2024)."

 

[aliris]

Co-incidentally, this was published here on 8 Nov: it makes interesting reading imo.

https://assets.publishing.service.g...Report_H5N1_survey_dairy_cattle_2024_v1.4.pdf

Some highlights: "The objective of this survey was to confirm that HPAI H5N1 was not present in dairy cows in GB during that period. At the time of designing the sampling plan, there was no evidence to support silent infection in Great Britain dairy cattle and extensive investigation into the genotypes of H5N1 HPAIV circulating in the UK and Europe had previously demonstrated that the virus causing cattle infection in the US had never been detected outside of those cases reported...

The origin of infection in cattle is undefined although environmental pressure from wild birds is high and practises of utilising composted poultry litter as cattle feed and bedding are all potential methods that might have driven the initial infection event...

Following initiation of infection in cattle, the virus has then been spread across multiple states through cattle movement. Where infectious cattle have been translocated to new farms, the primary mechanism of transmission between cattle is proposed to be facilitated mechanical transfer through milking machinery, equipment, and staff. This route is considered most likely due to the fact that very high titres of virus have been reported in milk from infected cows, often only one quarter of the udder is affected suggesting that the virus cannot readily cause systemic infection if the initial route of exposure and infection is via milking machinery...

H5N1-infected cattle cases in the US have been either subclinical or clinical with virus predominantly found in milk and mammary tissue regardless of clinical disease status. In cattle, clinical signs may include a drop in feed consumption and rumination; clear nasal discharge; and subsequent acute drop in milk production (with colostrum-like milk or no milk produced in severe cases). There may also be abnormal faeces, lethargy, dehydration, and fever. (USDA, 2024c). Clinical disease typically lasts for between 10 days and 2 weeks although longer term shedding profiles remain to be investigated. Affected cattle recover with supportive treatment, with little or no directly attributed mortality (AVMA, 2024)."

Very interesting. Do we know that *drinking* infected milk can cause human infection?

Is this reporting of fecal matter in dairy cow feed a true fact? It is so crazy-alarming. Perhaps that's the fear-stuff we're supposed to not fall for? I do think my "priors" suggest a readiness to believe this, which is maybe not fair. But is it true that cow feed contains appreciable amounts of fowl manure or even body parts? Is it FDA that would regulate this feed?

 

[Perris]

Do we know that *drinking* infected milk can cause human infection?

I have no idea. The animal and plant health agency here (who produced that report) don't have that sort of investigation in their remit I think.

is it true that cow feed contains appreciable amounts of fowl manure or even body parts?

Yes. There is a Florida Uni resource on it somewhere; I'll see if I can dig it up. I think it's madness - especially not stopping it when bird flu arrived.

Here's some resources about it
doi:10.1017/S0043933910000656 that's a paper in World's Poultry Science Journal, Vol. 66, December 2010

This practice goes back at least to the 70s. Here's a snip of a paper published then, when the language used was more explicit

 

[Perris]

further to the last, it's even advertised in some quarters:
"for example, chicken litter can be fed to cattle, and is very high in protein" https://agrigro.com/blogs/blog/byproducts-in-animal-nutrition (blog entry dated Sept 4, 2020).

 

[Perris]

is it true that cow feed contains appreciable amounts of fowl manure or even body parts? Is it FDA that would regulate this feed?

I can't find the Uni extension page I was looking for, but found these, which cover much the same ground
https://extension.missouri.edu/publications/g2077
https://www.aces.edu/blog/topics/beef/feeding-broiler-litter-to-beef-cattle/

for the FDA's role or absence in regulation and enforcement, see https://www.fda.gov/regulatory-info...ocuments/cpg-sec-685100-recycled-animal-waste

Then there's a couple of informative other resources such as
https://www.latimes.com/environment...ing-question-is-our-food-system-built-on-poop
and https://www.unmc.edu/healthsecurity...ird-flu-outbreaks-in-cows-heres-what-to-know/

 

[Susan Skylark]

Dairy cattle can and do carry bird flu, true, but it is killed by pasteurization of the milk (otherwise we’d be having a major public health crisis on the scale of mad cow and foot and mouth disease in the uk 15 years back and everybody who drinks milk would be coming down with avian influenza). Most cows are asymptomatic and it isn’t usually lethal. A few (less than 10) people have been infected by close association with infected herds. Barn cats, sparrows, and pigeons on infected premises tend to die off (the cats from eating unpasteurized birds!). Testing is mandatory for interstate shipment of dairy cattle (no matter state of origin). Wild birds carrying bird flu are a much more likely vector to domestic poultry flocks than dairy cattle. Swine flu has a similar infectious profile, while it can and has infected people (all in close association with pigs) it rarely jumps species. Bird flu can infect cattle (and various other species), but they are a dead end host and not the main reservoir of bird flu. The big concern is that a variation will jump species and become highly infectious to humans, that has yet to happen but there are plenty of people willing to make drama about whatifs for attention or personal gain, every two years we have a new bug to panic over and the world has yet to end (Covid was a great example of what happens when everybody panics instead of dealing with things in a realistic and thoughtful manner). Monkey pox, bird flu, sars, mad cow, Ebola, swine flu…serious diseases all, but global pandemic worth panicking over, no. The one that scares me is African swine fever: almost a hundred percent fatal in pigs, can survive in the environment for years, not contagious to people but could devastate the food supply for pork dependent nations (china!). Also, broiler bedding is sometimes fed to cattle, this sounds weird but you don’t have a rumen: a giant fermentation vat that can release nutrients and energy from urea (chicken poo) and cellulose (straw, newspaper). Ruminants are amazing at recycling otherwise unusable material into protein and energy, letting them survive in areas other mammals can’t (and so can the humans who depend upon them, think sub-saharan goat herders). Cows get a bad rap for belching off gases that are supposedly bad for the environment but those same gases would be released from the swamp or compost pile as the organic material was broken down, just in this case it is inside a cow instead of rotting in a pile somewhere! Anthrax, tuberculosis, brucellosis, and bubonic plague are all still around in the US, just because it exists in some form does not mean it is a public health crisis. There are management strategies in place to limit the exposure to domestic stock and the public but only small pox and perhaps rinderpest have been successfully eliminated from the world while novel bugs are always being discovered. The last and worst thing to do is panic over any of it instead of address it in a rational and logical manner, but fear and panic breeds power and control for some and they inculcate it to increase their control.

 

[aliris]

Dairy cattle can and do carry bird flu, true, but it is killed by pasteurization of the milk (otherwise we’d be having a major public health crisis on the scale of mad cow and foot and mouth disease in the uk 15 years back and everybody who drinks milk would be coming down with avian influenza). Most cows are asymptomatic and it isn’t usually lethal. A few (less than 10) people have been infected by close association with infected herds. Barn cats, sparrows, and pigeons on infected premises tend to die off (the cats from eating unpasteurized birds!). Testing is mandatory for interstate shipment of dairy cattle (no matter state of origin). Wild birds carrying bird flu are a much more likely vector to domestic poultry flocks than dairy cattle. Swine flu has a similar infectious profile, while it can and has infected people (all in close association with pigs) it rarely jumps species. Bird flu can infect cattle (and various other species), but they are a dead end host and not the main reservoir of bird flu. The big concern is that a variation will jump species and become highly infectious to humans, that has yet to happen but there are plenty of people willing to make drama about whatifs for attention or personal gain, every two years we have a new bug to panic over and the world has yet to end (Covid was a great example of what happens when everybody panics instead of dealing with things in a realistic and thoughtful manner). Monkey pox, bird flu, sars, mad cow, Ebola, swine flu…serious diseases all, but global pandemic worth panicking over, no. The one that scares me is African swine fever: almost a hundred percent fatal in pigs, can survive in the environment for years, not contagious to people but could devastate the food supply for pork dependent nations (china!). Also, broiler bedding is sometimes fed to cattle, this sounds weird but you don’t have a rumen: a giant fermentation vat that can release nutrients and energy from urea (chicken poo) and cellulose (straw, newspaper). Ruminants are amazing at recycling otherwise unusable material into protein and energy, letting them survive in areas other mammals can’t (and so can the humans who depend upon them, think sub-saharan goat herders). Cows get a bad rap for belching off gases that are supposedly bad for the environment but those same gases would be released from the swamp or compost pile as the organic material was broken down, just in this case it is inside a cow instead of rotting in a pile somewhere! Anthrax, tuberculosis, brucellosis, and bubonic plague are all still around in the US, just because it exists in some form does not mean it is a public health crisis. There are management strategies in place to limit the exposure to domestic stock and the public but only small pox and perhaps rinderpest have been successfully eliminated from the world while novel bugs are always being discovered. The last and worst thing to do is panic over any of it instead of address it in a rational and logical manner, but fear and panic breeds power and control for some and they inculcate it to increase their control.

Hm. I guess this depends on how you define "rational and logical manner". Not to mention "panic" and "fearmongering". But I take your point in a general way. Not sure the specifics, personally. And that's what I was asking, for some experiential guidance. I do think, for example, that Covid was clearly a crisis. "Novel bugs are always being discovered" but that does not make their threat real and their reality a potential crisis. So, again, seeking guidance and context. Thanks.