When faced with the potential outbreak of a serious contagious disease, communication expert Peter Sandman once wrote, “the trick is to get people ready for something that might be really bad, while simultaneously reminding them that it might also be no big deal.” Which is it for bird flu? It’s too soon to know. But H5N1 ’s spread among U.
S. dairy cattle has infectious disease specialists rattled. “I’m extraordinarily sympathetic to the general public sentiment that, like, ‘Oh my God, we’re so sick of infectious diseases.
’ We don’t want alarmism,” said Matthew Miller, Canada Research Chair in viral pandemics. “The best way to avoid alarmism is to avoid human infections, and do the low-hanging fruit stuff really well,” he said, including more robust biosecurity measures in settings like farms and educating people who hunt, “because we know a lot of animals that are harvested are at high risk (of infection with H5N1) as well,” like foxes and ducks. The highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N1 virus hasn’t been detected in dairy cattle in Canada, or in 600 retail milk samples tested as of June 18.
The risk of transmission to humans remains low and commercially sold milk and milk products remain safe , according to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. But an outbreak that began with reports of sick cows — and dead wild birds — on dairy farms in Kansas and Texas in March has now spread to 131 herds across a dozen American states. Three human cases.