The USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has confirmed a case of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) in an Oklahoma dairy herd.
The positive sample was collected by the dairy in April and recently submitted to USDA APHIS for testing. The dairy herd has fully recovered, and the farm has not reported any other cases of HPAI. Officials will not disclose the location in the state of the positive case.
I talked on Saturday with Oklahoma State Veterinarian Dr. Rod Hall about the positive case- which happened four months before it was confirmed by USDA.
According to Dr. Hall, the dairy farm apparently suspected they had the disease back in the spring- which caused at least one cow to go off feed and have decreased milk production- the farm did bank some samples from one of their cows and when it became apparent that USDA would reimburse dairies with confirmed cases for lost milk production- they then submitted the samples from April and USDA tested them and a positive test result was then announced on July 12, 2024.