Agri-Pulse: Opinion: Good biosecurity critical to mitigating the spread of H5N1
Opinion: Good biosecurity critical to mitigating the spread of H5N1
By Tom Vilsack, June 21, 2024
Witter Teaching and Research Center
The more we learn about H5N1, the more we understand that good biosecurity is a critically important path to containing the virus. Containing and eliminating the virus in our dairy cattle is essential – to protect the health of our herds and flocks, our farmers, our farmworkers, our families, and the rural economy they make possible.
This past winter a group of migrating wild birds infected with H5N1 transferred the virus to dairy cattle somewhere in the Texas panhandle region – this was the first reported case in dairy cattle. Cows that were shipped from the panhandle spread the disease to other parts of the country, and now, H5N1 – the same strain of highly pathogenic avian influenza found in wild birds and poultry flocks – has been found in 115 dairy herds in 12 states.