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Dairy cows must be tested for <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2024/04/23/bird-flu-virus-milk/?itid=ap_lenah.sun" target=_blank>bird flu </a>before moving across state lines, under a federal order issued Wednesday, as<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2024/04/23/bird-flu-virus-milk/?itid=ap_lenah.sun" target=_blank> evidence mounts </a>that the virus is more widespread than feared among cows in the United States.

Biden administration officials said the move is meant to contain transmission of the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2024/04/02/bird-flu-avian-influenza-explained/" target=_blank>virus known as H5N1</a> and to reduce the threat to livestock, but they maintained that the risk to humans remains low.

The trajectory of the outbreak has <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2024/04/02/bird-flu-pandemic-outbreak-h5n1/?itid=ap_rachelroubein" target=_blank>drawn public health concerns</a> because it marks the first time bird flu has moved to cows. The virus is far more disruptive to the poultry industry, killing chickens and forcing mass culling of flocks. It generally causes mild or no sickness in cows. But greater transmission in mammals, particularly one regularly exposed to people, increases the risk that the virus could evolve to the point that it spreads more easily in humans.

An <a href="https://www.aphis.usda.gov/sites/default/files/dairy-federal-order.pdf" target=_blank>order </a>issued by the U.S. Agriculture Department that takes effect Monday requires every lactating dairy cow to be tested before moving across state lines. Cows carrying the virus would have to wait 30 days and test negative before being moved, officials said. Positive test results would trigger additional requirements for herd owners to disclose information, including the movement of animals, to aid epidemiologic investigations, and for laboratories and state veterinarians to report cases to the USDA.

“Requiring positive test reporting will help USDA better understand this disease and testing before interstate movement will limit the spread of the virus,” Mike Watson, administrator of the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, told reporters.

“This is an evolving situation, and we are treating it seriously and with urgency,” he said.

The testing mandate could help overcome reluctance from some milk producers to allow testing in their herds, Watson said. The cost of mandatory testing would be reimbursed by the agency. Watson said federal officials are also working with state counterparts to potentially expand testing of cows when they are moved within a state.

The nation has roughly 8 million lactating cows, according to <a href="https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/usda.library.cornell.edu/concern/publications/h989r321c__;!!M9LbjjnYNg9jBDflsQ!Fn_zB4IFlMRap214_EkTiDLPsnVt-Le2SNmPjrns3cuOwnjn8FaRJyFkVPdBOP3vWQrv0lrsqUclRud9$" target=_blank>estimates</a>, though it’s unclear how often they are moved across state lines. Watson did not provide an estimate for how many cows would be tested under the new order, though he described it as a “significant number.” He said labs have enough capacity to handle the increase and turn around results within days.

The National Milk Producers Federation, an industry group, called the USDA’s testing order “appropriate.”

“Dairy farmers stand ready to take a proactive approach to ensuring that we better understand the spread of the virus, do what we can to limit that spread, and ensure the health of our animals and workers,” Gregg Doud, the group’s president and CEO, said in a statement.

Voluntary testing protocols for cows, limited until now to those with symptoms, has drawn criticism from public health experts. They say the true toll of the virus is probably larger than official tallies confirming avian flu in dairy cows in <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2024/03/29/bird-flu-cows/?itid=ap_lenah.sun" target=_blank>eight states</a>, as well as one human case in a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2024/04/01/bird-flu-human-case-cow-texas/?itid=ap_lenah.sun" target=_blank>Texas farmworker</a>. That person has recovered.

“We are only really starting to understand the extent of it now,” said Angela Rasmussen, principal research scientist at the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization at the University of Saskatchewan in Canada. “The testing requirements are very warranted because certainly there are economic incentives for producers to not test.”

Testing <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2024/04/23/bird-flu-virus-milk/" target=_blank>uncovered fragments</a> of the virus in milk sold at grocery stores, another sign that the virus is more prevalent in cows than official tallies show, including in asymptomatic cows. Federal officials stressed that existing research suggests pasteurization of milk and other milk products such as ice cream and cheese renders the virus unable to infect humans. Additional reviews, including the virus’s presence in other dairy products such as cream, are underway, with some results expected within days or weeks.

“We have seen nothing that would change our assessment that the commercial milk supply is safe,” said Don Prater, acting director of the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition at the Food and Drug Administration. He also cautioned, “We also know that assessments can change as we learn more, and we will be transparent about any changes based on emerging data.”

Public health experts have also faulted the Biden administration for not sharing more data about the outbreak, warning that it could hinder scientific research and the global response.

Federal officials shared more than 200 genetic sequences of the virus taken from different animals, which scientists criticized for lacking metadata that provides crucial context, such as the location and timing of the specimen collection. Scientists who analyzed the sequencing said the available information strongly suggests that the spread of H5N1 to cows stems from a single spillover event from birds in late 2023.

“The evolutionary tree resoundingly indicates that this outbreak had a single origin and that it had been circulating under our noses for months before it was noticed,” said Michael Worobey, an evolutionary virologist at the University of Arizona who led the analysis. “It shows there are massive gaps in the system, and we need to do much better on the scientific side.”

Northwestern University, BS in journalism and political science. 

American University, MSJ in journalism. 

Fenit Nirappil is a reporter for the Health & Science team who covers public health, infectious diseases and LGBTQ issues. He previously covered local politics. 

Fenit Nirappil

Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting for coverage of the war on terrorism, part of national reporting team, 2002

 Robert F. Kennedy journalism award, international print, 1994 

Cornell University, BS in communication

Columbia University, MA in journalism

Lena H. Sun is a national reporter for The Washington Post covering health with a special focus on public health and infectious disease. A longtime reporter at The Post, she has covered the Metro transit system, immigration, education and was a Beijing bureau chief. 

Lena H. Sun

U.S. requires more dairy cows tested for bird flu as viral concerns grow

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The Washington Post health section provides coverage and analysis of health, healthcare, nutrition and fitness news.