Federal officials on Friday pledged nearly $200 million in an attempt to control the spread of the virus. bird flu on dairy farms. Some of that money would go directly to farms to help them reduce the spread of the virus, cover veterinary costs and compensate farmers who lost milk because of sick cows.
The money is also intended to encourage testing on dairy cows and the people who work closely with them — a key step, experts said, in understanding the true scope of bird flu, also known as H5N1, in the United States.
“Incentives work really well to get a better understanding of epidemiology,” said Katelyn Jetelina, who tracks diseases for a website called “Your local epidemiologist.”
There is currently no requirement for dairy cows to be tested unless they are being moved across state lines, according to a recent federal order. Otherwise, the decision is up to the farmers.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture said that since the federal order took effect in late April, the National Network of Animal Health Laboratories has reported 905 tests for avian flu among cattle. Among these, 112 were positive.
(During a press conference on Friday, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said that only about 80 cows have been tested since the order went into effect. A USDA spokesperson later clarified that since the order came into effect, 80 additional tests were performed daily.)
From Friday, 42 herds in nine states – Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, Michigan, New Mexico, North Carolina, South Dakota, Ohio and Texas – were affected by the outbreak.
“These 42 family farm operations are hurting and we want to make sure we are there to provide help and assistance,” Vilsack said.
The USDA will offer $98 million to affected farms over the next four months, which could equal up to $28,000 per farm, Vilsack said.
Jetelina classified the program as “a fantastic step”, but “long overdue”. The outbreak among dairy cattle was first announced in late March.
“The incentive program is a huge step forward,” especially for smaller farms, said Dr. Keith Poulsen, director of the Wisconsin Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory. It probably won’t be enough, however, for larger farms that could lose more than $3 million from a bird flu outbreak, he said.
“This is not going to be resolved tomorrow,” he said. But incentives like this “lay the groundwork for it to be better and also give us a precedent if and when we deal with the next big outbreak.”
The Department of Health and Human Services will invest an additional $101 million to increase monitoring of people who have been exposed to sick animals, contact tracing and genetic testing of the virus to watch for mutations.
Part of these funds will also go towards virus surveillance in wastewater. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is expected to begin publishing this data as early as Monday, a CDC spokesperson told NBC News.
A separate monitoring system called WastewaterSCAN, which tracks 191 locations in 41 states, shows high levels of influenza A in the Midwest and Northeast. This is unusual for mid-May, well after the typical flu season. Bird flu is a type of influenza A virus.
These findings prompted WastewaterSCAN researchers to take a closer look at wastewater sites in Texas where the bird flu outbreak is believed to have begun.
Additional testing indicated that at the Texas sites, “what we were seeing was likely attributable to an H5 influenza virus,” said Marlene Wolfe, assistant professor of environmental health at Emory University and director of the WastewaterSCAN program.
Although wastewater tests can detect influenza A, they cannot distinguish whether the virus came from a human or an animal. According to the CDC.
The findings, along with recent announcements that fragments of the avian influenza virus were detected in 1 in 5 samples of pasteurized milk, indicate that bird flu may be spreading undetected. Additional testing confirmed that the milk, along with other pasteurized dairy products including heavy cream and cottage cheese, were safe to eat or drink.
Only one person, a dairy worker in Texas, has tested positive for the virus during the current outbreak. His illness was mild and his only symptom was conjunctivitis.
But experts have suggested that other cases may be going unnoticed. Friday’s incentives announcement included a $75 payment to any farm worker who agreed to provide blood samples and nasal swabs to the CDC.
However, experts say the risk of bird flu spreading among the general public remains low.
“Be aware, but let it only occupy a small part of your brain,” Jetelina said. “There’s a good chance this will go away.”
This article was originally published in NBCNews. with
