#18,416
With their latest update, the USDA's count of H5 infected herds in the country now sits at 505, across 15 states, with the addition of 13 new herds from California (n=291).
Of course, with no national mandatory testing of bulk milk or dairy herds, we don't really know how many dairy herds have been affected.
This `Don't test, don't tell' policy extends beyond just cattle. Despite sporadic reports of HPAI H5 in goats, in alpacas, and most recently in swine, there appears to be little appetite for testing those herds either.
And state submissions to the USDA's Detection of HPAI in Mammals list have ground to a halt over the past few months, with only 2 samples shown as collected since late July.
Even before this slowdown in reporting, some states still hadn't submitted any reports (see map above), while many others have only submitted one or two. Given the spread of HPAI reported in other states, one has to believe some jurisdictions aren't going out of their way to find, or report, cases.
As long as the virus remains poorly adapted to humans, it is possible what we don't know won't hurt us.
But given the enormous strides HPAI H5 has made over the past 8 months, any purported `bliss from ignorance' may prove short-lived, and very costly.
