Dairy cows transported interstate must now be tested for bird flu

Since the arrival of a new form of avian flu in 2022, federal officials have sought to reassure Americans that the threat to the public remained low.

< p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">The Biden administration said Wednesday it would begin requiring that dairy cows crossing state lines be tested for avian flu, which has been spreading in herds for months. The new policy is part of a growing effort to stem the spread of a virus that federal health officials have sought to reassure Americans about and which so far poses little risk to the population.

A new order, issued by the Ministry of Agriculture, stipulates that lactating cows must test negative for influenza A viruses, a class that includes avian influenza , before being transported. Herd owners who test positive will be required to provide data on livestock movements to help investigators trace the disease.

Testing will help protect the industry livestock, to limit the spread of the virus and “better understand this disease,” Mike Watson, a senior official at the Ministry of Agriculture, told reporters at a press briefing Wednesday morning.

For a long time A contagious form of avian flu has been detected in the United States in 2022, federal officials have sought to reassure Americans that the threat to the public remains low, even though the virus was infecting increasing numbers of mammals. Federal regulators announced Tuesday that inactive viral fragments had been found in pasteurized milk, suggesting the virus was likely spreading much more widely among cattle than previously thought.

Dr. Nirav Shah, principal deputy director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told reporters Wednesday that there is no change in the genetic makeup of the virus that would allow it to spread easily between humans. So far, Dr. Shah said, states have monitored 44 people exposed to the virus and are being monitored for infections.

As of Wednesday, the outbreak was propagated. to 33 herds in eight states, according to the U.S.D.A. But only one human infection has been reported, in a Texas dairy worker who had direct contact with sick cows. The case was benign.

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