‘We should be worried, but not panicked,’ said dairy specialist professor Phillip Jardon about bird flu in cows.
He is on the faculty of Iowa State University’s Veterinary Extension service.
He said it does not seem to be highly pathogenic in dairy cows, so far.
“It certainly makes them sick for a few days and they go down in production, but it doesn’t kill them, and they seem to recover fairly well from it,” Jardon said.
Iowa State University pathologist Drew Magstadt suggested testing the milk for bird flu, which showed the disease being shed in high amounts through the milk.
Although there is evidence of cow-to-cow transmission, it still doesn’t explain all the ways the disease has been spreading, they said.
“We should be worried, but not panicked,” said Jardon. “Then I think there’s also some evidence that this might be spreading from cows to some of the birds, whether it’s because of the mutation or whether it’s because of, just proximity. So I think we need to be careful of that, too.
And try our best to keep it from coming into Iowa.”
The federal agriculture department recommends minimizing the movement of cattle because there is evidence that the virus has spread between herds.
They also suggest minimizing access of wildlife, especially migratory wildfowl and other birds, to cattle and feed.
It is now mandatory to test all cattle crossing state lines for the virus.
The World Health Organization is advising the public to be sure their milk has been pasteurized.
