Colorado: First Bulk-Milk Testing Results adds 9 More Infected Dairy Herds to Their List

#18,228

Two weeks ago Colorado - with 47 known dairy herds infected, and (at that time) 8 farm workers infected with the H5N1 virus - announced the Mandatory Statewide Weekly Bulk-Tank Testing for HPAI; becoming the only state in the country to do so.

Testing of dairy cattle (excerpt prior to interstate transport) continues to be done only on a voluntary basis across most of the country.  And many farmers - fearing negative economic repercussions - have been reluctant to do so. 

Before today, Colorado had reported 52 infected herds - all tested because of clinical signs - but today 10 new herds were quarantined, 9 of which were quarantined based on bulk-tank testing results.  Given the paucity of information (see below) provided on the Colorado Ag webpage, it isn't clear whether these herds also showed clinical symptoms.  

Today's report shows the value of casting a wider net - something which should be being done across the nation - but isn't.  Of course, their expanded testing only covers lactating dairy cows, but it is a vast improvement over what other states are doing. 

As a result, the numbers being provided by the USDA (see below) likely only represent a fraction of the infected dairy herds in the country, and those herds almost certainly come from more than just the 13 states reported. 

The `don't test, don't tell' strategy that - up until a couple of weeks ago, Colorado was following - obviously didn't work there, and it probably isn't working any better in other states.

They only way we will ever know the full scope of the problem is to test all dairies, in all states, on a weekly basis.  Something that should have been mandated months ago.

If, as the dairy industry would have us believe, the problem is truly limited, then we have have reassurance.  But our current strategy of ignoring this problem, and hoping it will go away, only serves the interests of the virus.