From staff reports The U.S Department of Agriculture confirmed March 25, that Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) was detected in four dairy cow herds—two in Texas, and two in Kansas. The USDA stated that there is no threat to human health, as pasteurization (high-heat treatment) kills harmful microbes and pathogens in milk, including influenza.
“It is a strain we have been dealing with for two years now in poultry and wild waterfowl,” said Oklahoma State Veterinarian Dr. Rod Hall.
Hall noted that while HPAI is highly contagious in birds, cows cannot transfer the disease to each other. He emphasized that cows who contract HPAI will recover.
“They do not appear to be terribly sick, and certainly not dying from it,” Hall said. “There is no indication that cows are passing it from one cow to the next.
If we thought that it was being transmitted from cow to cow and could move that way, then we would have to at least consider the possibility of depopulating those herds, but that is just not the case right now.”
Hall stated that the cause of HPAI is currently unclear.
“In this world where we live now, where people and products move so much more rapidly than what they used to, the potential for spreading any kind of disease or contaminant is just a lot higher than it used to be,” Hall said. “We have to be much more aware.”