Lactating dairy cattle scheduled to move from one state to another will first have to be tested for the presence of the H5N1 virus, according to a USDA order issued Wednesday.
Mike Watson, administrator of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, made the announcement on a call with reporters that also featured representatives of FDA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
If testing shows a cow carries the virus, then a 30-day waiting period will be imposed. Cows can be moved following a subsequent, negative test for the virus.
While the initial focus of the order will be on lactating cows, Watson and Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack, on a later call, said testing mandate could be expanded as needed.
“As will be described in forthcoming guidance, these steps will be immediately required for lactating dairy cattle, while these requirements for other classes of dairy cattle will be based on scientific factors concerning the virus and its evolving risk profile,” the order says.
Vilsack said the order will become effective next Monday. Guidance on its implementation will be issued Thursday.
Watson expressed confidence that the tests could be done quickly through the National Animal Health Laboratory Network, 60 state and university laboratories nationwide.
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“In terms of the results, it's typically one to three days,” he said. “We are also working on developing some additional tests where we can get quick results.” He said the lab capacity should allow for “tens of thousands of tests a day.”
FDA announced Tuesday that H5N1 “viral particles” had been detected in grocery store milk, though officials told reporters Wednesday the number of those samples was small. FDA is conducting more extensive nationwide testing and said those results would be released soon.
On his press call, Vilsack stressed – as FDA and USDA have done previously – that the milk supply is safe because the pasteurization process has been shown to kill the virus, and milk from infected cows has been diverted from the supply chain or destroyed.
The milk in which viral fragments were found came from asymptomatic cows, Vilsack said.
Highly pathogenic avian influenza “has already been recognized as a threat by USDA, and the interstate movement of animals infected with HPAI is already prohibited,” the department's order says. “However, the detection of this new distinct HPAI H5N1 virus genotype in dairy cattle poses a new animal disease risk for dairy cattle – as well as an additional disease risk to domestic poultry farms – since this genotype can infect both cattle and poultry.”
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