By Deutsche Welle
Mar 28, 2024, 3:55 PM EDT
Cows at a dairy in Texas, southern United States tested positive for a contagious strain of bird flu in an unprecedented eventlocal authorities reported on Wednesday (03/27/2024), who also reported cases on farms in Kansas.
“This new confirmed infection of dairy cattle is an unprecedented event“said the head of the Texas Department of Agriculture, Sid Miller, in a statement, and announced that more cases may occur in the coming days.
This is a highly pathogenic strain of Avian Influenza. (HPAI), known as avian flu, according to the Texas Department of Agriculture. Miller clarified that, “while concerning, this outbreak is not currently expected to threaten the country’s commercial dairy supply.”
Texas agricultural authorities said that veterinary laboratories of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) “have not found alterations to the virus that make it more transmissible to humans.”
Virus is not transmitted to humans
“The current risk to the public remains minimal. “Increased efforts are being made to continue epidemiological investigations to ensure that a complete picture of the situation can be assessed,” the statement detailed.
Bird flu was detected last Monday in a sample of raw milk from a Texas farm and in the production of two other Kansas dairies, Miller said.
“Contaminated milk is not known to have entered the food chain.“Miller said at the beginning of the week. He specified that, in the event that part of the affected milk has violated the controls, the pasteurization process leaves the virus inactive.
The United States Department of Agriculture had announced on Monday that it was investigating “a disease primarily among older dairy cows in Texas, Kansas and New Mexico.” They tested samples from Texas and Kansas that tested positive for bird flu.
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