The highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) is likely being spread by people who work on multiple farms, as well as through the sharing of equipment, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) said on June 13.
Of the farmers who used shared equipment, 28 percent did not clean the equipment before using it. A significant percentage of workers from the dairy farms also hold jobs at an additional farm, have family members who work on another farm, or visited other farms within 30 days of symptoms appearing among cows at their primary workplace, according to the surveys. “Based on the epidemiological findings, the majority of links between affected dairy premises, and between dairy and poultry premises, are indirect from shared people, vehicles, and equipment,” the USDA said in a statement.
“All of those add up to the bigger picture that implementing enhanced biosecurity at this time is really critical to stop the spread of H5N1 between dairies and from subsequent spillover to domestic poultry and wildlife with that,” Kammy Johnson, a veterinary epidemiologist at the USDA, told reporters on a call. Authorities are recommending that farmers not move cattle if possible, restricting visitors to farms, cleaning and disinfecting vehicles and equipment when they’ve moved on and off farms, and requiring workers to use protective equipment such as goggles. Cases of the bird flu, which typically appear in poultry, began showing up in cattle in the United States earlier this year.
