USDA Confirms Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza in an Indiana Dairy Herd: First Case in Cattle in the State
Washington — The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) announced on November 2 that its National Veterinary Services Laboratories (NVSL) had confirmed, by PCR detection, highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1 genotype B3.13 in a dairy cattle herd in Indiana. The detection resulted from routine National Milk Testing Strategy testing, not pre-movement surveillance.
APHIS said this marks the first reported case of HPAI in cattle in Indiana. Dairy cattle in a total of 21 states have been infected since the outbreak began in March 2024, and APHIS has seen cases in previously unaffected states this year. APHIS is working closely with the Indiana State Board of Animal Health to conduct additional on-farm investigations, diagnostic testing and epidemiological data collection to better understand the detection and prevent further disease spread.
The detection does not change USDA's HPAI eradication strategy, APHIS said, and biosecurity remains key to mitigating the risk of disease introduction or spread between premises. APHIS recommends enhanced biosecurity measures for all dairy farms, and said producers should immediately report any livestock with clinical signs, or any unusual sick or dead wildlife, to their state veterinarian.
APHIS said the detection does not pose a risk to consumer health or affect the safety of the commercial milk supply. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is confident that pasteurization is effective at inactivating HPAI virus and that the commercial, pasteurized milk supply is safe; dairies are required to send only milk from healthy animals into processing for human consumption, and milk from impacted animals is diverted from the commercial milk tank or destroyed so that it does not enter the human food supply.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), HPAI viruses circulating in birds and U.S. dairy cattle pose a low risk to the general public in the United States, while people with job-related or recreational exposures to infected birds or mammals are at higher risk of infection and should take precautions outlined in CDC guidance.
Source: USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：Maryland 州 Easton 一处奶牛场的 Jersey 与 Holstein 奶牛（资料图）。Bob Nichols 摄，美国农业部（USDA），公共领域，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Jersey and Holstein dairy cows at a farm in Easton, Maryland (file photo). Photo by Bob Nichols, U.S. Department of Agriculture, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
