BLACKSBURG, Va. – While the avian flu affecting dairy cattle has not been found in Virginia, if you have dairy cattle, there are still some things you need to be aware of.
“We have found some cases in cattle, dairy cattle, and it’s the same virus that infects the birds and that’s probably where these cattle got it from,” said Tanya LeRoith, director of the diagnostic lab at Virginia Tech and a clinical professor at the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine.
Cases of avian flu affecting cattle first started in Texas in late March after cows started showing some unusual symptoms, and after running some tests, veterinarians found the cattle were infected with avian influenza.’
“Initially, it was a little bit harder to detect because we didn’t actually know what was going on,” LeRoith said.
She said while this is uncommon, the cattle will be fine.
“They recover,” said LeRoith. “So, within 10 to 14 days they will recover from the virus.”
She also said there are now some regulations going in place to slow the spread.
“For cattle to move between states, they have to have a negative test for avian influenza,” said LeRoith. “They need to involve their regulatory veterinarians and they need to involve the state veterinarian so they can get that testing done.”
She said there should not be any worry for milk products, as milk pasteurization kills the virus.
Information on this is changing daily—so it is important to get the latest updates. Updates from the CDC can be found here and updates from the USDA can be found here.