The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) said on Thursday (Apr 4) that bird flu infected a dairy herd in Ohio for the first time and was detected in additional herds in Kansas and New Mexico. The USDA confirmed infections in herds across six states since it first reported cases in Texas and Kansas on March 25. The infected dairy in Ohio received cows on March 8 from a Texas dairy, which later confirmed a detection of bird flu, according to the Ohio Department of Agriculture.
The USDA said that the initial bird flu cases in Texas and Kansas appeared to have been introduced by wild birds, and the strain of the virus in subsequent cases in New Mexico, Michigan and Idaho was very similar.
Bird flu has been found in three dairy herds in Kansas, two in New Mexico, seven in Texas and one each in Ohio, Idaho and Michigan, the department added.Â
Clear signs of virus found in milk
At affected dairies in the US, researchers from the USDA tested milk, nasal swabs, and blood from cows and found clear signals of the virus in the milk. At a meeting organised by the World Organisation for Animal Health and the UN’s Food and Agricultural Organization, USDA official Suelee Robbe Austerman said on Thursday, “Right now, we don’t have evidence that the virus is actively replicating within the body of the cow other than the udder.”
USDA’s Mark Lyons, meanwhile, said that the virus might be transmitted from cow to cow in milk droplets on dairy workers’ clothing or gloves, or the suction cups attached to the udders for milking
Texas farm worker tests positive for bird flu
In Texas, officials reported on Monday (April 1) that a farm worker tested positive for bird flu and the only symptom was eye inflammation. This is the second known case of a human contracting the H5N1 virus in the country.Â
(With inputs from agencies)
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