H5N1 Bird Flu Spreads to Texas Dairy Herd as CDC Tracks Human and Animal Cases Worldwide

About this episode

The episode discusses the spread of H5N1 bird flu to a Texas dairy herd and the ongoing tracking of cases by health officials.

Federal and state health officials are tracking new bird flu developments this week, with the focus still on the H5N1 strain circulating in animals and a small number of humans in the United States and abroad. In the U.S., agriculture authorities in Texas confirm that highly pathogenic avian flu has recently been detected in a dairy herd, after cows showed a drop in milk production and signs of illness. According to Fox 7 Austin and state officials, the affected farm has been quarantined, and this is the first confirmed Texas dairy herd case this year. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration reiterates that pasteurization inactivates H5N1, and commercial pasteurized milk remains safe, while the CDC continues to rate the overall risk to the general public as low. CIDRAP, the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy, reports that in the past month highly pathogenic avian influenza has been confirmed in multiple U.S. dairy herds, including at least one in Texas and more than a dozen in Idaho, underscoring continued spread among cattle and the need for strict biosecurity on farms. On the human side, CDC-led investigations recently documented the first known cat-to-human H5N1…

Topics covered

• H5N1
• bird flu
• animal health
• public health
• biosecurity
• dairy herd

Keywords

• H5N1
• bird flu
• Texas
• dairy herd
• CDC
• biosecurity
• avian influenza
• public health
• FDA
• human transmission

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: CDC, U.S. Food and Drug Administration, CIDRAP

Places: Texas, Idaho, United States, Texas dairy herd

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