Weekly livestock news: May 20, 2024

Biden administration to provide nearly $200 million to contain bird flu spread on dairy farms

The Biden administration has said it will provide nearly $200 million to fight the spread of avian flu among dairy cows in the government’s latest bid to contain outbreaks that have fueled concerns about human infections with the H5N1 virus, Reuters reports. Scientists have said they believe the outbreak is more widespread based on FDA findings of H5N1 particles in about 20% of retail milk samples. The USDA will make $98 million available to provide up to $28,000 per dairy farm for efforts to contain the spread of the virus between animals and humans and for testing milk and animals for the virus, the agency said. The money includes $34 million through the CDC for testing efforts and supporting public health labs, $8 million for vaccines and $3 million for wastewater surveillance.

Bird flu in milk suggests asymptomatic cows are infected

Large amounts of avian flu virus in milk suggests asymptomatic cows are infected with H5N1, STAT News reports. Since March, when the first reported cases of H5N1 bird flu began showing up in dairy cattle in Texas, the FDA has been asking farmers to discard any milk from infected animals. Initially, spotting tainted milk was believed to be fairly easy because cows that get sick with H5N1 begin producing milk that is thick and yellowish. But in recent weeks, studies have found genetic traces of the virus in a large percentage of commercial milk products. The presence of these viral fragments doesn’t mean H5N1 is biologically active in these samples or capable of causing disease. All the evidence generated to date indicates that pasteurization is effective at deactivating H5N1 in milk. Still, experts question how so much virus is getting into the national milk supply.

Scientists at a high-security lab in Germany research H5N1 in cattle

A shipment of samples of the H5N1 virus from Cornell University was destined for the Federal Research Institute for Animal Health in Riems, Germany, which has one of the rare high-security labs worldwide that are equipped to handle such dangerous pathogens in cattle and other large animals, Science reports. There, veterinarian Martin Beer will use the samples to infect dairy cows, in search of a fuller picture of the threat the virus poses to both cattle and people. Beer and other scientists at biosafety level-3 labs that handle large animals hope to glean clues about how to head off a dire scenario in which the virus establishes itself in cows across the United States, or eventually worldwide, inevitably harming the beef and dairy industries and increasing the risk of a human pandemic.

Collaborative project aims to rethink African swine fever vaccine development

The Pirbright Institute and researchers at The Vaccine Group in Plymouth, England, are collaborating on a project to develop an African swine fever vaccine. The researchers are using bovine herpesvirus 4 (BoHV-4) as a platform for developing ASF vaccines, leveraging recent advancements in ASF vaccinology and porcine immunology. By harnessing TVG’s expertise in herpesvirus-based vaccine platforms, the team hopes to revolutionize the process of developing ASF vaccines. Traditional vaccine methods have proven ineffective in the battle against ASF, prompting the need for innovative solutions, Pig World reports.

‘No indication’ patient’s death was related to kidney transplant from genetically modified pig

After receiving a kidney from a genetically modified pig in March, Richard Slayman has died, The New York Times reports. Massachusetts General Hospital, where the operation took place, said it had “no indication” his death was related to the transplant. Slayman received a human kidney in 2018. When it began to fail in 2023 and he developed congestive heart failure, his doctors suggested he try one from a modified pig. His surgery, which lasted four hours, was a medical milestone. For decades, proponents of so-called xenotransplantation have proposed replacing ailing human organs with those from animals. The main problem with the approach is the human immune system, which rejects animal tissue as foreign, often leading to serious complications. Recent advances in genetic engineering have allowed researchers to tweak the genes of animal organs to make them more compatible with their recipients.

Legislation pushes back on electronic identification tags for cattle

Senator Mike Rounds of South Dakota has introduced legislation to prevent the secretary of agriculture from implementing any rule or regulation requiring use of electronic identification tags on cattle and bison. Rounds has called a move by the USDA to transition to electronic identification tags for certain types of cattle that cross state lines “federal government overreach.” With EID, a round tag is placed in an animal’s ear. A wand electronically reads the tag and a unique 15-digit code is uploaded into a spreadsheet, which in turn can be uploaded by a state veterinarian’s office. Proponents of the tags have said they’ll cut down on human error while maintaining the same information already collected. The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association echoes USDA sentiments about the need to rapidly respond to disease concerns to protect markets, Ag Week reports.