Bird flu has reached Colorado dairy cattle. Now what?
The virus seems to be spreading from cow to cow, but the commercial milk supply appears safe. Here鈥檚 what else to know.
Eric Lubbers/Colorado Sun
Colorado is investigating a second possible outbreak of bird flu in a dairy herd, the state veterinarian said this week.
The potential new outbreak 鈥� coming less than a week 鈥� is an indicator of how rapidly health officials are trying to catch up to bird flu’s spread through dairy cattle.
Dr. Maggie Baldwin, who manages the Colorado Department of Agriculture’s Animal Health Division, did not provide additional details on the dairy or where it is located. She said the state is awaiting test results from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to confirm whether bird flu, also known as highly pathogenic avian influenza, is involved.
“USDA’s confirmatory testing is taking a little bit longer with the load that they’re getting currently for testing,” Baldwin said.
Nationwide, avian influenza has reached聽, and state and federal officials recently released new testing orders intended to more aggressively track its spread.
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