Federal Agencies Earmark Millions To Help Combat Bird Flu On Dairy Farms
HHS and the Department of Agriculture pledged nearly $200 million to stem the spread of avian flu that has already been detected in 40 dairy cow herds across nine states. The money will be used to test, track and treat animals potentially infected by H5N1 and to incentivize farms to take containment steps.
The Biden administration said on Friday it will provide nearly $200 million to fight the spread of avian flu among dairy cows, in the government's latest bid to contain outbreaks that have fueled concerns about human infections with the H5N1 virus. The virus has been detected among dairy cattle in nine states since late March. Scientists have said they believe the outbreak is more widespread based on U.S. Food and Drug Administration findings of H5N1 particles in about 20% of retail milk samples. (Douglas, 5/10)
The new funds include $101 million to continue work to prevent, test, track and treat animals and humans potentially affected by the virus known as Type A H5N1, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said. ... In addition, dairy farmers will be compensated for the loss of milk production from infected cattle, whose supply drops dramatically when they become sick, officials said. (Aleccia and Stobbe, 5/10)
Newly announced financial incentives to farms to help stem the spread of bird flu in dairy cattle drew mixed reviews Friday, as some farmers said they were grateful for money to help buffer the economic impact but advocates for farm workers questioned whether the money paid to workers would be enough to encourage more testing for the H5N1 virus. (Goodman, 5/10)
Also —
Final testing of U.S. retail dairy samples came back negative for viable H5N1 bird flu virus, the Food and Drug Administration said on Friday. The FDA said it finished its laboratory research into 297 retail dairy samples tested for bird flu, after previously reporting that preliminary results showed the commercial milk supply was safe. (5/10)
Reluctance among dairy farmers to report H5N1 bird flu outbreaks within their herds or allow testing of their workers has made it difficult to keep up with the virus’s rapid spread, prompting federal public health officials to look to wastewater to help fill in the gaps. (Molteni and Branswell, 5/13)
