Bird Flu in Dairy Cattle

[BurbMum]

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/

I’m in L.A. too and heard the news.

So the US is finding more human cases daily, I believe we are up to 48 now, mostly in dairy and poultry workers. Canada just recorded its first human case, a teenage boy who is hospitalized.

Historically H5N1 has a 50% fatality rate in humans, but many of those cases & esp the deaths have been children.

There have been asymptomatic cases, cases with diarrhea as the primary symptom, and cases with full flu symptoms including hemorrhaging eyes and bleeding lungs.

I personally am changing shoes and masking most of the time when cleaning up after my flock and considering adding eyewear/goggles because it’s been known to enter the body that way. I’m also still masking in public because Covid messed up my heart and we just went thru another big wave (10,000 Americans died of acute Covid in the last 2 months). I won’t spread it to others if masked.

ALL of the cats on the dairy farms with cases died, mostly with neurological symptoms, and it definitely can infect the brain and cause neuro inflammation.

Precautions are up to you, but it’s only a matter of time before we have human-to-human cases at this point, according to the scientists I’m following on Twitter who have been tracking all the animal cases.

Yesterday I compiled a list of herbs that can help fend it off both in humans and poultry (kumquats for humans tho I doubt that’s safe for chickens, I think stinging nettle might be ok for both?) I can post more if interested, I’ll have to compile them all from my Twitter thread.

 

[BurbMum]

Here are screenshots of a few of the latest updates

 

[BurbMum]

‘Globally, from January 2003 to 25 November 2022, there have been 868 cases of human infection with avian influenza A(H5N1) virus reported from 21 countries.’

https://www.who.int/docs/default-so...-influenza/ai_20230127.pdf?sfvrsn=22ea0816_23
From what I understand it’s now just one mutation away… so if and when someone with a ‘regular’ flu also contracts H5N1, it will recombine with the ability to spread human to human.

 

[Perris]

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,

The rumen did not stop the virus that causes scrapie in sheep passing into and turning into BSE in cows, when sheep brains were fed to cattle as 'good' sources of nutrients, protein and energy.

And besides milk being cleaned of pathogens (if all the technology works 100% all of the time), poultry manure that is potentially infected with H5N1 or any other of the HxNx versions while you've got avian flu about is also being fed to beef cattle there, and meat is not pasturised or always well done in cooking.

 

[BurbMum]

Here are some more details, they’ve now found positive cases in 7% of the dairy workers tested in the US. Some have contracted it while masked, but without eyewear.

It’s less likely to be carried by song birds than by geese & other waterfowl (who can be asymptomatic carriers) because it lasts a long time in water and can survive cold, but it’s almost always fatal to chickens.

 

[Perris]

geese & other waterfowl (who can be asymptomatic carriers)

ducks are the trojan horse of avian influenza, and they are immune to it, they just carry it and spread it.

 

[Perris]

they’ve now found positive cases in 7% of the dairy workers tested in the US

but it does not spread easily even into the whole udder from the infected teat: read the APHA report I linked https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/bird-flu-in-dairy-cattle.1616347/page-3#post-28135304

I fail to see how it can possibly be spread by the airborne route if the point of entry is the teat. Inadequate hygiene with milking machinery is the obvious route, both for the cows and the workers.

 

[Nym]

 

[BurbMum]

This image shows the map of counties testing with positives in wastewater in California, and a theory for why below.

One study shows it is killed by pasteurization, but another showed live virus could slip through at the temps/time currently used in the process. It’s definitely been found in raw milk and infected cats that way (I think the update was all the cats died, but I can’t seem to find that particular announcement).

If you’re concerned you can buy ultra-pasteurized. I opted to switch to oat milk in my coffee, but am still eating cheese for now.

I’d cook all eggs & meat (chicken, beef, pork) thoroughly, and use best egg and raw meat handling safety practices.

 

[Perris]

View attachment 3985131

what was that you were looking for and has gone missing?