Beef Biosecurity

Third Chinese National Accused of Smuggling Biological Materials into Michigan

Tue, 10 Jun 2025 14:38:04 GMT

Another Chinese national is accused of smuggling biological materials related to roundworms into the U.S. for work at a University of Michigan laboratory. This is the third such charge of a Chinese national by the U.S. federal government in a week.

Chengxuan Han is charged with smuggling goods into the United States and making false statements, according to a criminal complaint , said the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Michigan on Monday.

“The alleged smuggling of biological materials by this alien from a science and technology university in Wuhan, China — to be used at a University of Michigan laboratory — is part of an alarming pattern that threatens our security,” said U.S. Attorney Jerome F. Gorgon, Jr., in a prepared statement. “The American taxpayer should not be underwriting a PRC-based smuggling operation at one of our crucial public institutions.”

On June 8, 2025, Han arrived at the Detroit Metropolitan Airport on a J1 visa. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers conducted an inspection of Han, during which Han made false statements about the packages and the biological materials she had previously shipped to the United States.

CBP officers also found that the content of Han’s electronic device had been deleted three days prior to her arrival in the United States.

At the conclusion of the border inspection, Han was interviewed by agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and ICE HSI.

During this interview, Han admitted to sending the packages, admitted that the packages contained biological material related to roundworms, and admitted to making false statements to the CBP officers during her inspection.

“The FBI has zero tolerance for those who violate federal law and remains unwavering in our mission to protect the American people,” said Cheyvoryea Gibson, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Detroit Field Office, in a prepared statement.

Han is pursing a doctoral degree from the College of Life Science and Technology in the Huazhong University of Science and Technology in Wuhan, China, according to an affidavit filed with the complaint.

The Detroit Free Press reports Han made an initial appearance June 9 in federal court and was temporarily detained. A detention hearing is set for June 11, according to court records.

Less than a week ago, on June 4, AgWeb reported two Chinese nationals had been charged with trying to smuggle a fungus , Fusarium graminearum, into the United States.

Yunqing Jian, 33, and Zunyong Liu, 34, citizens of the People’s Republic of China, were charged in a criminal complaint with conspiracy, smuggling goods into the U.S., false statements and visa fraud.

Jian is currently in U.S. custody where she awaits a detention hearing June 13. Liu, who had attempted to enter the U.S., was returned to China following questioning by U.S. customs officers.

Your next read: Chinese Scientist Accused of Smuggling ‘Potential Agroterrorism Weapon’ Into the U.S.

Secretary Rollins Takes On a Global Agenda for U.S. Agriculture

Sat, 17 May 2025 02:12:35 GMT

A day after returning from the United Kingdom (UK), Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins says agriculture is a “big, big deal” in the trade agreement now being negotiated between the U.S. and UK.

“The No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3 concessions that we received from the UK were for agriculture. It was beef cattle, it was ethanol and the conversations continue on pork,” Rollins told “AgriTalk” host Chip Flory in an exclusive interview on Friday. “I was so proud of President Trump for putting our farmers first as he promised to do.”

During her time in the UK, she met with four cabinet members, her counterpart and three others, and key advisers to the prime minister to work toward striking a deal they’ve “been trying to get it done for 25 years.”

When it comes to non-tariff trade barriers between the U.S. and UK, particularly with beef, Rollins says progress is being made. She prioritizes social media and interviews with the media to talk about the robust, abundant and safe products U.S. farmers grow and produce.

📍Day one in the UK: Kicked off a powerful U.S. agriculture cooperator roundtable at the U.S. Embassy in London.

We’re building on President Trump’s historic trade announcement and his promise to put farmers FIRST—at home and around the world. 🇺🇸🇬🇧 pic.twitter.com/xqsIoDLyAe
— Secretary Brooke Rollins (@SecRollins) May 12, 2025

While in the UK, she was often asked about chlorinated chicken and hormone filled beef.

“I would immediately push back, and they all seemed a little bit surprised. I think by my final day in the UK, they knew what my answer was going to be. I asked him to go look at the science and understand the data and what we’re producing here is so safe and so reliable,” Rollins says.

When it comes to potential opportunities for the U.S., the ag secretary sees additional potential for:

pork
poultry
rice
specialty crops
seafood

While Rollins is quick to point out the U.S. doesn’t agree with the UK on everything, such as net zero goals, she says they “desperately needs our ethanol,” including biofuels, biomass and wood pellets.

“The zero percent tariff on our ethanol is going to play a huge part in them achieving [their net zero] goal and, for our farmers in America, that’s a really big deal,” Rollins says.

“So you see, with Rochambeau’s fleet in the Chesapeake and Washington’s army on the peninsula, your garrison at Yorktown had no chance. Caught, as between my fingers here.” 😁😂

No, seriously — so grateful for our time at 10 Downing Street today. Grateful too, as America… pic.twitter.com/OKAOtLkSqB
— Secretary Brooke Rollins (@SecRollins) May 14, 2025

Imports of Live Cattle from Mexico Remain Off Limits Due to New World Screwworm

Prior to leaving for the UK, the U.S. suspended Mexican cattle, horse and bison imports from Mexico because of the threat of New World Screwworm (NWS).

“My commitment to Secretary Villalobos, who is my counterpart in Mexico, was that we weren’t just going to shut the border down and then just go away for a couple of months. This would be a daily discussion with repercussions not just to the farmers and ranchers in his country but also in ours. This is not good for us either in the short term or the long term, but we have to protect our beef cattle industry,” Rollins says. “There were some promises made and data points given to us that we didn’t fully trust were in best interest of our cattle ranchers. That’s why I made that decision, though it wasn’t an easy decision.

While Rollins continues to analyzes the situation and assess next steps, she stresses the real threat the pest poses.

“It has gotten within 700 miles of our southern border in Texas, which is inexcusable and unsustainable and we can’t let it get any closer,” Rollins says.

Secondary Screwworm Fly

She says production of sterile flies is being considered and hopes to have some good news to announce on that very soon.

In the mean time, the border will remain closed until Mexico can put more miles between NWS and the U.S. border. A couple weeks ago, NWS was 1,100 miles from the border, Rollins says, but then that gap narrowed.

“There’s just too much at stake. It took us 30 years to eradicate [NWS] the last time, and we just can’t get there again,” she adds.

‘Make America Healthy Again’ Report to be Released May 22

On May 22, a report is expected to be released by supporters of the “Make America Healthy Again” movement. What can farmers expect in that report?

“As you can imagine, it’s a work in progress,” Rollins says. “I and my team at USDA, my partners across the Trump cabinet, including Lee Zeldin at EPA, Russell Vought at OMB and Kevin Hassett with the National Economic Council, and, of course, Bobby Kennedy, chair of the committee, just finished a couple hour discussion on that and we’ll be continuing over the weekend. I think it will make some really important points about the chronic diseases in our country, about diabetes in our country and about addiction to medicine and prescriptions. It’s really an all-encompassing report.”

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins posted this photo with RFK Jr. on X, saying “Supporting hardworking farmers like the Sawyer family is vital for Making America Healthy Again.”

(Secretary Brooks Rollins X Account)

“Of course, my lane is making sure our farmers and ranchers are put first and that we’re able to continue to feed and fuel and provide fiber for not only America, but the rest of the world, so that will be a big part of it. I feel confident President Trump’s vision of putting America first and putting American farmers and ranchers first will be reflective in that document as it comes out next week, and we continue to talk about it,” she continues.

Your Next Read: China Plans ‘World’s Biggest Export Terminal’ For Brazil Amid U.S. Trade Talks

U.S. Suspends Mexican Cattle, Horse and Bison Imports Over Screwworm Pest

Mon, 12 May 2025 00:46:24 GMT

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins on Sunday said she is suspending imports of live cattle, horses and bison through the southern U.S. border over the damaging pest New World screwworm, a measure that immediately drew opposition from Mexico.

“I am announcing the suspension of live cattle, horse and bison imports through U.S. southern border ports of entry effective immediately,” Rollins said. “The last time this devastating pest invaded America, it took 30 years for our cattle industry to recover. This cannot happen again.”

Her Mexican counterpart, Julio Berdegue, swiftly rebuked the action, but said he hoped the two countries could soon come to an agreement over the pest, known as NWS.

“We don’t agree with this measure,” he said in a post on social media, adding that it would be in place for 15 days.

The U.S. agriculture agency in a statement on Sunday said the suspension would be in effect on a “month-by-month basis.”

The U.S. and Mexico last month reached an agreement on the handling of the damaging pest, which can infest livestock and wildlife and carry maggots that burrow into the skin of living animals, causing serious and often fatal damage.

The U.S. agriculture agency in a statement said the efforts so far were not sufficient, and acknowledged “an economic impact” on both countries due to the suspension.

“There has been unacceptable northward advancement of NWS and additional action must be taken to slow the northern progression of this deadly parasitic fly,” USDA said.

It said the pest had been detected in Oaxaca and Veracruz, about 700 miles (1,127 km) from the U.S. border.

Reporting by Joey Roulette in Washington and Lizbeth Diaz in Mexico City; Editing by Bill Berkrot

Read more: Mexico Takes Additional Measures to Help Fight New World Screwworm

USDA Threatens To Halt Imports If Mexico Doesn’t Step Up New World Screwworm Control

USDA Identifies Ways HPAI H5N1 Has Likely Spread in Michigan Dairy and Poultry Operations

Mon, 17 Jun 2024 22:29:29 GMT

On June 9, the USDA issued a report that summarizes the findings from field epidemiological investigations of disease spread between premises for 15 dairy herds and eight poultry flocks confirmed with HPAI genotype B3.13 in Michigan.

The following information is pulled from the USDA’s 2024 Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (H5N1) - Michigan Dairy Herd and Poultry Flock Summary (see Michigan Dairy Herd and Poultry Flock Summary ).

The information offers potential insights for how the dairy and poultry industries in states beyond Michigan likely have been impacted, as well.

A ‘Eurasian Lineage Goose’

Whole genome sequencing (WGS) of viruses from the dairy and poultry premises identified Eurasian lineage goose/Guangdong clade 2.3.4.4b, genotype B3.13 on the Michigan farms and suggests likely indirect transfer of virus from the dairy premises to the poultry premises.

USDA reports that interstate animal movement initially introduced the HPAI genotype B3.13 virus from Texas into a Michigan dairy. However, USDA says the continued disease transmission within Michigan has been determined to be multifactorial.

Transmission between farms is likely due to indirect epidemiological links related to normal business operations such as numerous people, vehicles, and other conveyances frequently moving on and off the affected dairy premises, with many of these indirect links shared between premises.

Importantly, USDA says, disease spread due to independent introduction of the virus onto dairy or poultry premises from migratory waterfowl is not supported based on both genomic and epidemiological data analysis.

Key findings identified to date and potential risk factors for local transmission in Michigan specifically, include:

Shared personnel between premises
o 20% of affected dairies’ employees and 7% of dairies’ employees family members work on other dairy premises

o 7% of affected dairies’ employees also work on poultry premises; 13% of affected dairies’ employees have family members who work on poultry premises

o 31% of dairies have employees who own livestock or poultry at their personal residence

Shared vehicles between premises
o 62% of affected dairy premises use shared vehicles to transport cattle, with only 12% of premises cleaning vehicles before use

Frequent visitors on/off premises
o 100% of affected dairy premises have regular visits by veterinarians, nutritionist/feed consultant, and/or contract haulers (e.g., cattle or manure); the majority of these visitors have direct contact with cattle

o 40% of affected dairy premises have regular visits for deadstock removal, with 20% having direct contact with cattle. Furthermore:

-53% of affected dairies utilized the same deadstock removal company and 40% had animals removed from the premises by that company within 30 days prior to clinical onset

o Milk haulers visit dairy premises, on average, 34 times within a 30-day time period. Furthermore:

-93.3% of affected dairy premises are part of the same milk co-op with at least one other affected dairy premises within the state (i.e., only one of the affected dairy herds is part of a milk co-op that none of the other 14 affected dairy herds belong to)

Disease Spread Between Dairy and Poultry Premises
Apart from the potential for resident wild birds or peri-domestic species to move and transmit the virus, the only other potential transmission routes found from dairy herds to the poultry flocks were through shared employment, housing, or movement of employees.

Approximately 22 employees of three poultry flocks worked weekend shifts at two different dairy premises. Shared housing between dairy and poultry workers was identified between three poultry premises and two dairy premises. It is also possible that dairy employees have social contact with poultry premises employees, USDA reports.

In Summary
The investigations discussed in this report, including the respective WGS information, indicate that HPAI H5N1 genotype B3.13 was introduced into Michigan through animal movement from Texas and subsequently spread within the state between dairy premises with spillover into poultry premises through multiple possible routes.

Factors that appear to be of greater risk for introduction into a dairy premises may be mitigated through enhanced biosecurity, increased animal testing, and potentially through within-state animal movement restrictions if they can be implemented without impacting animal welfare.

USDA says the willingness of Michigan producers to participate in these investigations has greatly increased the body of knowledge of HPAI H5N1 B3.13 detections in Michigan and throughout the nation; this report could not have been completed without them.

For more information on the H5N1 issue:

H5N1 Virus Found in Beef for First Time, FSIS Says

FDA Says New Round of Tests Prove the U.S. Milk Supply is Safe From H5N1 Virus

USDA Now Requiring Mandatory Testing and Reporting of HPAI in Dairy Cattle as New Data Suggests Virus Outbreak is More Widespread

Bird Flu Outbreak Reported in Minnesota Dairy Herd, the State's First

Thu, 06 Jun 2024 21:02:39 GMT

June 6 (Reuters) - The ongoing U.S. outbreak of avian flu in dairy cattle reached Minnesota on Thursday as the state announced its first infected herd.

More than 80 dairy herds have been infected with the virus across 11 states since late March, and three dairy workers have tested positive for the virus.

The Minnesota Board of Animal Health said the farmer of the affected herd reported more than 40 cows with signs of fever. The animals were tested on Monday and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) National Veterinary Services Laboratories confirmed the positive test on Wednesday night.

The animals are recovering, said Brian Hoefs, the state veterinarian.

Milk from the sick cows was disposed of, and the state Board of Animal Health has quarantined the entire herd for 30 days to reduce the risk of the virus spreading off the farm, the agency said. After 30 days from the last positive test result, the herd can be retested to be released from quarantine, the agency added.

“We knew it was only a matter of time before this detection would reach our doorstep,” said Hoefs. “It’s important for dairy farmers to follow the example of this herd and test sick cows.”

This was not the first Minnesota dairy farm tested for avian flu due to cattle showing signs of illness, but it was the first to confirm positive results, Hoefs said.

More samples from dairy farms could be sent to the state lab in the coming days, he said.

“Once this news gets out, then it kind of triggers other farms to consider doing the testing if they were on the fence prior,” Hoefs said. “My guess is we will see more testing later this week into next week.”

The other states that have reported infected herds so far are Colorado, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, South Dakota and Texas.

Dairy cows with avian flu have died or been slaughtered by farmers after not recovering, Reuters reporting found. The USDA said that the vast majority of cows recover from the illness.

(Reporting by Leah Douglas and P.J. Huffstutter; Editing by Bill Berkrot and Lisa Shumaker)

APHIS To Require Electronic Animal ID for Certain Cattle and Bison

Tue, 30 Apr 2024 17:53:11 GMT

USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has taken another step toward limiting the impact of an outbreak of foreign animal diseases by amending and strengthening its animal disease traceability regulations for certain cattle and bison. By requiring electronic animal identification for certain cattle and bison, APHIS put into place the technology, tools and processes to help industry stakeholders quickly pinpoint and respond to a foreign animal disease outbreak.

“Rapid traceability in a disease outbreak will not only limit how long farms are quarantined, keep more animals from getting sick, and help ranchers and farmers get back to selling their products more quickly – but will help keep our markets open,” said Dr. Michael Watson, APHIS administrator.

APHIS said one to the rule’s most significant benefits for farmers and ranchers will be the enhanced ability of the United States to limit impacts of animal disease outbreaks to certain regions, which the agency called a “key to maintaining our foreign markets. By being able to readily prove disease-free status in non-affected regions of the United States, we will be able to request foreign trading partners recognize disease-free regions or zones instead of cutting off trade for the entire country. Traceability of animals is necessary to establish these disease-free zones and facilitate reestablishment of foreign and domestic market access with minimum delay in the wake of an animal disease event.”

The April announcement enhances a rule finalized in 2013 for the official identification of livestock and documentation for certain interstate movements of livestock.

The final rule applies to all sexually intact cattle and bison 18 months of age or older, all dairy cattle, cattle and bison of any age used for rodeo or recreation events, and cattle or bison of any age used for shows or exhibitions.

The rule requires official eartags to be visually and electronically readable for official use for interstate movement of certain cattle and bison, and revises and clarifies certain record requirements related to cattle.

“USDA’s final traceability rule updates the existing requirement for animal identification that has been in place since 2013, switching from solely visual tags to tags that are both electronically and visually readable for certain classes of cattle moving interstate,” said National Cattlemen’s Beef Association president Mark Eisele, a Wyoming rancher.

“Many producers are already familiar with using these visual tags and under the new rule, they will instead use electronic tags. NCBA has worked hard to secure $15 million in funding for producers to reduce the cost of implementing this change. We also remain committed to safeguarding producers’ private data and continuing to reduce the cost of ear tags for farmers and ranchers. Our industry faces a tremendous threat from the risk of a future foreign animal disease on American soil. To avoid devastating financial losses during a potential outbreak and to help producers quickly return to commerce, we need an efficient animal disease traceability system.”

USDA said it is committed to implementing a modern animal disease traceability system that tracks animals from birth to slaughter using affordable technology that allows for quick tracing of sick and exposed animals to stop disease spread. USDA will continue to provide tags to producers free of charge to jumpstart efforts to enable the fastest possible response to a foreign animal disease.

To obtain electronic ID tags at no cost, APHIS directs producers to contact their State Veterinarian.

A copy of this rule may be viewed at the APHIS website, and the rule will be published in the Federal Register in the coming weeks. This rule will be effective 180 days after publication in the Federal Register.

To learn more about animal disease traceability and how APHIS responds to animal disease outbreaks, visit www.aphis.usda.gov.

A Message to the Ag Industry about H5N1

Fri, 26 Apr 2024 20:49:16 GMT

“We’re going on a bear hunt. We’re going to catch a big one… We’re not scared.”

So goes a beloved children’s book written by Michael Rosen. The story is a metaphor for how to address fear. Kay Russo, DVM, often reads it to her son and daughter, ages 4 and 6.

“This unfortunate family seems to deal with a lot of issues as they’re going on their hike,” Russo says. “Ultimately, every time they reach one of these issues, the book basically says, ‘You know, we can’t go over it. We can’t go around it. We can’t go under it. We have to go through it.’”

That story illustrates how the dairy industry must deal with the growing impact of H5N1, says Russo, Novonesis technical services manager for dairy and poultry. She’s watched the spread of the virus with alarm and urges U.S. leaders across dairy and agriculture to step up and take action.

“Address it head-on,” she says. “Don’t hide.”

As with all major threats, she says ag needs a comprehensive, cohesive plan to address the virus in dairy – and to also look at how to protect the beef, pork and poultry industries.

“At this point, I believe it’s important to take one day at a time and systematically answer the questions that we need to get answered in order to define a sustainable path forward,” Russo says.

“We have a very clear picture that it’s in the udder and is being shed in milk. But where else do we need to be concerned? That matters because that is going to define the control tactics to reduce spreading it from cow to cow. Those questions are ultimately going to be the pillar of our understanding and help to define strategies for controlling the virus in a sustainable way.”

On The Front Line
Help can’t come soon enough for dairy producers and veterinarians in the trenches working with cows.

Veterinarians such as Dr. Barb Petersen in Texas have been dealing with the virus in their clients’ dairy herds since at least March.

“It has been circulating here as early as February, based on retrospective feedback from owners and fellow veterinarians,” says Petersen, owner of Sunrise Veterinary Service in Amarillo.

By early March, she had begun sending daily emails and text messages to her Texas Panhandle dairy clients who needed answers and support.

Petersen, who has been in practice 15 years, did her best to provide both. But she didn’t know what she was dealing with. Neither did any other veterinarian Petersen reached out to within 200 miles of her practice.

“We started to text and email each other, and give summaries of ‘OK, here’s the test that this doctor has run. Here’s what another colleague has run,’” Petersen recalls.

“We tested for every single viral bacterial mycotoxin, lepto, rumensin toxicity, nitrates… I mean, you name it, every single thing that we vaccinate for, we tested for, for sure, right off the bat. And then even some of the things that we don’t or can’t vaccinate for. We tried to cast a really wide net.”

None of the initial tests, conducted by the Texas A&M Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory (TVMDL), provided an answer.

Recurring Symptoms Emerge

Some members of the animal health community suspected winter dysentery – an acute, highly contagious gastrointestinal disorder that can affect housed dairy cattle of all ages.

Petersen was skeptical.

“The first clinical symptom I saw was cows that had indigestion. They had manure that wasn’t well-digested, manure with particles of feed in it,” she says.

As she checked more cows and talked with colleagues, more information came to light and she began to identify recurring symptoms: thick, colostrum-like milk; lesions on cow vulvas; high temperatures; respiratory distress; a drop in feed consumption; and a corresponding lack of rumination. None of it added up to winter dysentery.

“This is a really strong and fierce reminder to keep your hands on the cows,” Petersen says. “It’s wonderful to have data, but you have to trust and then verify.”

When Russo at Novonesis got news of the problem from a colleague, she called Petersen.

Russo has worked as a dairy veterinarian and is also a board-certified poultry veterinarian. She and Petersen discussed what kinds of tests had already been done and what health concerns had been ruled out.

“I said, ‘You know, I may sound like a crazy person, a tinfoil-hat-wearing person, but this sounds a bit like (highly pathogenic avian) influenza to me. We’ve seen this particular strain of influenza that’s been circulating, that’s been jumping into mammalian hosts,’ and I kind of left it there,” Russo recalls.

More conversations between Russo, Petersen and other veterinarians ensued. Russo encouraged Petersen to collect some of the dead birds she had encountered at the dairies and submit them to TVMDL for testing, which she did.

On March 19, Petersen received a call from the Texas lab, confirming the wild birds were positive for H5N1.

At about the same time, barn cats at the dairies Petersen worked with were getting sick and starting to die. They had consumed some of the H5N1-infected birds and milk that had not been pasteurized.

“I spent one weekend picking up dead birds and the next weekend picking up dead cats. It was very sad,” Petersen says.

Science Provides Answers
Petersen sent some of the dead cats and a pooled sample of milk to TVMDL pathologists for testing. Because of their heavy workload, she sent the same material to a former veterinary classmate at Iowa State University (ISU), Dr. Drew Magstadt, now a pathologist at the school’s diagnostic laboratory.

“Whenever I’ve gotten into a real jam professionally – like, you have a question that you can’t seem to find an answer to – the group of folks that have always helped me solve it have been pathologists,” Petersen says. “It’s been pathologists that I could give the clues to who helped finish the puzzle.”

On a warm March night in Amarillo, Petersen sat resting on her back porch at home when a text message from Magstadt popped up on her phone.

“There’s something in the results,” he wrote. “Can I call you?”

On the phone, Magstadt shared what he’d found in the lab tests done on the cats and milk: H5N1.

“I was like, ‘Are you serious?’” Petersen asked Magstadt. “Are you going to run those tests again?”

“Yes,” he said. “Just to make sure.”

The initial H5N1 confirmation flabbergasted Magstadt. The next day, he retested the samples to confirm the finding.

“I had thought we would find the results were negative and we would move on to other testing. So I was very, very surprised when the results came back positive,” says Magstadt, ISU clinical associate professor and a pathologist at the Iowa State Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory.

The National Veterinary Services Laboratory (NVSL) then confirmed Magstadt’s findings. The documentation of H5N1 by NVSL in a sample of milk from a dairy cow represented an industry first.

“The most surprising part of this, in my mind, is the fact that we’re finding so much virus as we are in the milk, in the mammary gland,” Magstadt says.

‘Show Us The Data’
On April 23, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) reported it had detected “viral particles of H5N1 avian influenza” in pasteurized milk available for purchase at grocery stores.

Russo is quick to point out this doesn’t mean the actual virus is in milk. Rather, it’s the genetic material known as RNA.

“I think the FDA needs to show us the data,” Russo says. “The fact that there is viral material in some of the milk on shelves, as detected by rt-PCR. That test doesn’t say whether it is alive or dead. Virus isolation is necessary. The first tests have not grown virus, thankfully, but we need more data.”

No unusual human illnesses have been documented. Government health officials say they have seen nothing unusual in flu activity, according to a senior official at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) who was interviewed for this story. The overall assessment and risk to human health remains low from H5N1, the official says.

“CDC looks for a host of flu-like symptoms,” he told “U.S. Farm Report” host Tyne Morgan during a phone interview. “They do so by looking at people coming into emergency rooms, care systems, etc.”

Yet anecdotal evidence suggests the people most likely to be infected – dairy farm workers who have their hands on cows regularly – aren’t necessarily going to doctors for treatment.

The World Health Organization (WHO) website references just one “laboratory-confirmed case of human infection with an influenza A (H5N1) virus on 1 April 2024” on a dairy farm.

“It’s a mild, mild case and the only symptom he had was pinkeye,” Sid Miller, state commissioner of the Texas Department of Agriculture, told “AgriTalk” host Chip Flory at the time, as reported on AgWeb.

That Texas case marked the second confirmed human case of influenza A(H5N1) detected in the U.S. — and the first in the dairy industry. The first documented case, identified in 2022, involved a person in Colorado who worked with infected poultry that tested positive for the virus.

During his interview with Miller, Flory asked whether the virus could impact beef cattle at some point.

“You’ve seen what’s happened in the cattle markets,” Flory said. “They’re looking at it like this is a major problem for beef.”

Problems aren’t anticipated for Texas beef cattle, which consist primarily of feedlot cattle in the Panhandle, Miller replied.

“The cattle that get it are the older lactating cows, and we don’t have those in the feedlot,” Miller explained. “I think we’re OK, but we’re certainly going to research that.”

Tip Of The Iceberg?
So far, H5N1 has been officially confirmed in only 32 herds in eight states, according to data from USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS).

Some veterinarians working with dairies in Texas believe the virus is more active than current data suggest. Nick Schneider, a consulting dairy practitioner, is one of them.

“The thing is, when you get into the Panhandle of Texas, I’m not sure there’s anybody (dairy farms) that did not have it,” says Schneider.

Texas is home to 335 Grade A dairies with an estimated 625,00 cows, according to information on the Texas Association of Dairymen website. More than 100 of those operations are in the Panhandle.

The virus likely is being under-reported by the dairy industry because the presence of the virus in dairy cows is new, and there are no reporting requirements, Russo says.

“It’s not a foreign animal disease like it’s considered in poultry, where there are reporting requirements,” she explains. “This is considered an emerging disease (in dairy cattle).”

The dairy industry needs to be “very forward looking” now and address the virus, advises Schneider, the Texas dairy consultant.

“Looking at what happened in the rearview mirror is great, but if you’re not looking at where you’re going, it’s really just a pointless endeavor,” he says.

To that end, he advises gaining insights and expertise in preparation for whatever new information emerges next.

“We need to think about this potentially being something we have to live with, as being a part of the industry in the future,” Schneider says. “I hope I’m wrong. I would love to be wrong about that. But it’s something that we definitely need to consider when we’re thinking of how we’re going to manage it.”

Lessons From Swine And Poultry
Russo also advocates learning the lessons from swine and poultry, which have faced a variety of viral challenges for years.

“It’s important that we don’t try to reinvent the wheel as the cattle industry, but sort of cross the aisle to interact with the poultry folks and the swine folks who have gone through this repeatedly over the years and learn from the defined principles they use and try to adapt them into the bovine space,” she says.

Both swine and poultry have modified their animal management practices from the farm to the marketplace as a result of those experiences.

“Poultry, for instance has very distinct biosecurity principles they abide by to include lines of separation,” Russo says. “One is they keep the outside world out. Another is their use of PPE (physical protective equipment) to protect employees and also the birds from anything that might be carried onto the farm.”

The latter is a message Dr. Barb Petersen has taken to heart. Petersen says she was exposed to H5N1 for more than a month before she learned about the virus and its ability to infect dairy cows and people.

“I’m very fortunate that I never got sick,” she says.

Her advice? “Protect yourselves and your people on the dairy. There’s been underreporting of the virus. Understandably, there’s been a lot of fear. But every dairy that I’ve worked with has – with the exception of one – had sick human beings at the same time they had sick cows.”

Based on that knowledge, Petersen has acquired PPE available through Texas Health and Human Services.

“All the states have personal protective equipment available. Go and get it for your dairies,” she encourages other veterinarians. “If a dairy is on the fence, just provide it to them, offer it to everybody.”

Petersen says she has worked with people infected by H5N1 who do not interact with dairy cows. “I’m talking owners and feeders who don’t usually touch cows,” she says.

Research is underway to determine how much of a health risk the virus poses to humans, Russo says.

“This is a rapidly evolving situation, and the people that are working on it are doing everything they can to ensure the safety of those individuals that are most at risk,” she says.

A Paradigm Shift
The virus continues to hit the U.S. poultry industry hard.

Cal-Maine Foods, the largest producer and distributor of fresh shell eggs in the U.S., announced April 2 that chickens at its facility in Parmer County, located in the southwest part of the Texas Panhandle, tested positive for the virus. As a result, Cal-Maine had to cull nearly 2 million chickens − 1.6 million hens and 337,000 pullets.

In the AgriTalk discussion aired earlier this spring, Flory asked Miller, the Texas ag commissioner, whether he believes state agriculture department investigators are in front of the latest issues with HPAI in dairy cattle.

“I think so,” Miller replied. “We’ve got about 10 months before the ducks and geese come back, so I think we’ll have it figured out by then.”

Moving forward, the U.S. livestock industry might operate in a new world – one where the H5N1 virus is endemic.

Russo is undaunted by the challenge.

“This is not insurmountable, but it’s an issue we need to address swiftly,” she says.

Culled dairy cows going into the food supply deserve special attention, she says.

“We need to do the work so that we can define those movement strategies for the practitioners that are being asked to write health certificates on these farms that have the virus circulating,” Russo says.

The dairy industry needs to be more proactive for the sake of the poultry industry, she adds.

“Putting our heads in the sand, and hoping it burns itself out is not going to work. It’s just not,” she says. “It would take down the entire poultry industry by doing that, because this is highly pathogenic to them.”

That is not hyperbole, Russo says: a dime-sized piece of manure with H5N1 can infect up to 1 million chickens or turkeys.

In essence, the livestock industry needs to go on a bear hunt, as the children’s story says.

‘We can’t go over it. We can’t go around it. We can’t go under it. We have to go through it.”

With that as the focus, solutions to H5N1 can be found and help delivered to livestock producers and veterinarians on the front lines and, ultimately, the U.S. agriculture industry can insure a safe food supply.

This story will be updated by Bovine Veterinarian and Farm Journal editorial staff as more information is available.

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Properly Prepared Beef Remains Safe; Meat Institute Calls For Guidance to Protect Workers at Beef Facilities

Wed, 24 Apr 2024 19:07:21 GMT

As the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) issued a nationwide order including requiring lactating dairy cows to test negative for Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) before interstate transport, the Meat Institute today said that properly prepared beef remains safe to eat and called for USDA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to provide worker safety guidance specific to beef processors to ensure workers are protected from infection.

“USDA and CDC are working overtime to understand the spread of the virus and to determine its effects on the health of people and animals,” said Julie Anna Potts, President and CEO of the Meat Institute. “We encourage USDA and CDC to conduct additional testing and monitoring to continue to ensure properly prepared beef remains safe to eat.

“We are also calling on USDA and CDC to issue additional, specific guidance for beef processing facilities to ensure USDA inspectors and meat company workers are protected from infection.”

“It is important to ensure the free flow of healthy animals to slaughter. The Meat Institute and its members will continue to work with USDA, state and local veterinarians and our cattle producer partners to both stop the spread of the virus and to ensure beef production continues.

“We call on Biden Administration officials to anticipate international trade concerns and encourage our trading partners to abide by internationally recognized scientific standards as determined by the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH).”

Background

Dairy cows make-up 6.8 percent of total beef production in the U.S.

The Federal Meat Inspection Act of 1906 and the Poultry Products Inspection Act of 1957, along with the many regulations and policies put in place to implement those Acts, ensure the meat and poultry industry is among the most intensely regulated industries in the nation.

U.S. Department of Agriculture inspectors from the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) are present every day in meat packing plants and are trained to detect disease both prior to slaughter and after. For more information on the federal oversight of the meat and poultry industry, see the inspection information provided on FSIS’s website.

Meat Institute members have robust food safety programs that incorporate key elements such as employee training, pathogen or indicator organism tracking and analysis, foreign material control and prevention, sanitation and allergen control.

USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has a strong HPAI surveillance program. It tracks detections in mammals in addition to wild bird, commercial and backyard flocks.

For more on today’s orders and APHIS’ monitoring of HPAI go here.

FSIS Resources on the Proper Preparation of Beef

FSIS Resources on the Proper Handling of Poultry

CDC Resources on HPAI

NEW: USDA Confirms Cow-to-Cow Transmission a Factor in Avian Flu Spread

Fri, 19 Apr 2024 21:18:17 GMT

The U.S. Department of Agriculture said this week that cow-to-cow transmission is a factor in the spread of avian flu in dairy herds, but it still does not know exactly how the virus is being moved around.

Farmers and veterinarians have been waiting for confirmation on how the virus is transmitted to better control its spread. Dairy herds in eight states tested positive over the past month, along with one dairy worker in Texas.

“Those of us that have worked with influenza for a long time were fairly quickly saying, ‘Yep it moves cow to cow,’” Jim Lowe, an associate dean at the University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine, said on Friday. “You can’t explain the epidemiology any other way.”

Wild migratory birds are believed to be the original source of the virus. But the USDA said its investigation into cow infections “includes some cases where the virus spread was associated with cattle movements between herds.” There is also evidence the virus spread from dairy cattle premises “back into nearby poultry premises through an unknown route,” the department said.

The USDA said cows shed the virus in milk at high concentrations, so anything that comes in contact with unpasteurized milk may spread the disease. Respiratory transmission is not considered a primary way for the virus to spread in cattle, the department added.

Despite uncertainty over transmission, USDA has not imposed quarantines to restrict the movement of cattle around infected dairies, as it does with chickens and turkeys around infected poultry farms. Infected cattle appear to recover, while bird flu is usually lethal for poultry.

The USDA said it expects that minimizing cattle movement and testing those that must be shipped, along with safety and cleaning practices on farms, should avoid the need for regulatory restrictions.

Officials reported last month that bird flu primarily affected older cows, though additional data now indicates younger cattle have been affected, the USDA said.

(Reporting by Tom Polansek, Editing by Louise Heavens)

South Dakota Confirms First Case of HPAI in a Dairy Herd

Thu, 11 Apr 2024 21:41:59 GMT

The South Dakota Department of Agriculture (DANR) and the Animal Industry Board (AIB) have received confirmation from the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) National Veterinary Services Laboratory (NVSL) of the detection of highly pathogenic avian influenza in a dairy cattle herd in South Dakota.

This is the first confirmed case of HPAI in a dairy operation in South Dakota.

“South Dakota Dairy Producers encourage all dairy producers to closely monitor their herd and contact their herd veterinarian immediately if cattle appear symptomatic,” said Marv Post, Chairman of South Dakota Dairy Producers, in a prepared statement. “USDA continues to emphasize that pasteurization kills the virus and that milk and dairy products are safe to consume.”

Read the complete press release here .

North Carolina Reports First Case of HPAI in Dairy Herd

Wed, 10 Apr 2024 19:59:16 GMT

The National Veterinary Services Laboratory (NVSL) has detected Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) in a dairy herd in North Carolina.

The North Carolina Commissioner of Agriculture, Steve Troxle, said in a press release he is waiting for more diagnostic information from the NVSL and will work collaboratively with federal partners and dairy farmers in the state.

“We have spent years developing methods to handle HPAI in poultry, but this is new and we are working with our state and federal partners to develop protocols to handle this situation,” he said. “It is important to note the FDA has no concern about the safety or availability of pasteurized milk products nationwide.”

North Carolina is the seventh state to officially confirm the presence of HPAI in a dairy herd.

The other six states with NVSL-confirmed reports of HPAI in dairy are:

Idaho: 1 case
Kansas: 3 cases
Michigan: 2 cases
New Mexico: 4 cases
Ohio: 1 case
Texas: 9 cases

In addition, the National Milk Producers Federation reports that eight states now have dairy cattle importation requirements or restrictions:

The Federation adds that there is “no concern about the safety of the milk supply or that this circumstance poses a risk to consumer health because products are pasteurized before entering the market, per the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Only milk from heathy animals is authorized for distribution into interstate commerce for human consumption. Additionally, pasteurization has continually proven to inactivate bacteria and viruses, including influenza, in milk.”

More information and HPAI dairy-specific resources are available at the Federation’s website, www.nmpf.org

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Minnesota Goat Confirmed to Have Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza

Six Questions One Industry Veterinarian Says She Is Asked Most Often About HPAI

AABP Decides to Reference Cattle Disease as Bovine Influenza A Virus (BIAV)

Tue, 09 Apr 2024 20:17:20 GMT

On Sunday evening, the American Association of Bovine Practitioners (AABP), released a letter to its media partners to update them on how the organization will reference the emerging cattle disease, currently confirmed in dairy herds in six states, moving forward.

“Because this infection in cattle is not the same as highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI), after thoughtful consideration and discussion with many experts, the AABP will now refer to this as Bovine Influenza A Virus (BIAV), which more accurately depicts it,” wrote Geni Wren, director of marketing and communications for the organization, in an email accompanying the letter.

The letter was developed and signed by AABP executive director, Fred Gingrich, DVM, and president Michael Capel, DVM.

Gingrich and Capel are asking other organizations, state animal health officials, diagnostic labs, and state and federal agencies to use Bovine Influenza A Virus (BIAV) “so we can be consistent with our messaging and better distinguish the disease syndrome in cattle from the pathogenesis in birds. We believe it is important for the public to understand the difference to maintain confidence in the safety and accessibility of beef and dairy products for consumers,” they wrote.

The letter is available in its entirety for review here:

Six Questions One Industry Veterinarian Says She Is Asked Most Often About HPAI

Sun, 07 Apr 2024 20:16:02 GMT

The emerging issue of Highly Pathogenic H5N1 Avian Influenza (HPAI) in the U.S. dairy industry changes on nearly a daily basis.

Novonesis (a merger of Chr. Hansen and Novozymes) hosted a webinar on the issue on Friday to update producers, veterinarians and other members of the agricultural community.

“It’s a rapidly evolving situation,” lead presenter, Kay Russo, DVM, Novonesis technical services manager for dairy and poultry, North America, stressed at the beginning of the program.

“I’m getting a lot of questions, and I’m sure everybody on this call has questions. Or if you’re a veterinarian, you’re receiving them,” she said. “Again, this is a rapidly evolving situation, and what may seem correct today may be different tomorrow.”

Here are the six questions Russo said she is most frequently asked, and what her answers to them are – for now. Russo’s answers have been lightly edited for clarity.

Question #1: Is HNAI spreading from cow to cow?

Answer: Initially the thought was that every one of these animals was exposed to the disease from a bird. But at this point, there is some consideration for the fact that this may be spreading laterally. How it’s spreading is still unclear. There is some postulation that the virus is being spread in the milking parlor. Could it potentially be a mechanical spread from cow to cow on the milkers’ hands, or perhaps (on) the milking machines? Is it possible in these parlors where the humidity is high, it’s a warm environment that we’re seeing some aerosolization of the virus, so I would say that’s possible too. But there’s more work that needs to be done. But for all intents and purposes at this time, I would suspect there is some lateral transmission.

Question #2: Why are calves, younger lactation cows and the feedlot cattle not getting sick?

Answer: Ultimately, I don’t know the answer to this. More work needs to be done. The question needs to be answered. Are they truly not getting infected with a virus? Are they resistant to it, perhaps? Or is it that they are getting infected and just not demonstrating the clinical signs? We milk a lot of these dairy cows three times a day, so there’s a lot of eyes on them. In some of these instances, with the calves or in the feedlot cattle, you’re not handling them as often. We need to rely on the science to answer these questions in order to provide guidelines. I keep saying this, and I will continue to say it, we do not know what we do not measure. And we cannot provide guidelines around what we do not know.

Question #3: Is this a risk to humans?

Answer: The short answer is that it can infect humans. I know that in New Mexico, they are offering free testing to individuals that are working regularly with these infected herds. And if they are symptomatic – we’re seeing conjunctivitis and high fevers in some of them –they are being distributed Tamiflu for their use and for their families. This is a rapidly evolving situation, and the people that are working on it are doing everything they can to ensure the safety of those individuals that are most at risk.

Question #4: Is milk safe?

Answer: The FDA has stated the pasteurization process should kill the virus, and we should not see it in any saleable milk.

Question #5: Will this be a market limiting disease outbreak?

Answer: This is the major concern here, folks. These are important markets for us in this country. At this point, this is something that is absolutely a consideration. The goal here is to keep the farms in business.

Question #6: Are dairy farms a risk to poultry operations?

Answer: We’ve seen two commercial layer operations, one in West Texas and one in Michigan, be positive for highly pathogenic avian influenza this week. I know that there’s considerable amounts of work behind the scenes to determine the origin of the virus that caused the outbreak in those situations. Ultimately, in this circumstance, it’s going to be important that the cattle folks and the poultry folks come to the same table and talk and manage through this. We want to be good neighbors. These are two major industries in our country, so it’s important that the dialogue is there and continues so that we can keep (everyone) safe.

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Twelve Cases of HPAI in Dairy Cattle Confirmed in Five States

Wed, 03 Apr 2024 18:54:11 GMT

To date, 12 cases of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) have been confirmed in dairy cattle in five states.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has made the confirmations in dairy herds in four states: Texas (7), Kansas (2), Michigan (1), and New Mexico (1).

In addition, the Idaho State Department of Agriculture announced March 28 that it had identified its first cases of HPAI in a Cassia County dairy cattle operation. The affected facility had recently imported cattle from another state and herd that had HPAI.

Fred Gingrich, DVM and executive director for the American Association of Bovine Practitioners (AABP), says the virus identified in affected dairy cows is the same virus that has affected the U.S. poultry industry since 2022.

“The assumption is the initial herds were affected by wild migratory birds,” Gingrich told Chip Flory, host of AgriTalk, on Tuesday.

Gingrich adds that government agencies, veterinarians and livestock industry groups have more questions than answers at this point about how HPAI is infecting herds, and they are not ruling out cow-to-cow transmission.

“Clinically, it looks like that’s what is happening. Some of the newly infected herds outside of Texas had purchased animals from areas there that had affected herds. That indicates that we probably have some cow-to cow transmission,” Gingrich says. “What’s not known is how does that transmission occur? Does it occur through oral secretions, through the manure, urine, or aerosolized in respiratory secretions like it is in birds? Or is there some mechanical transfer when cows are in the parlor together?”

Adopt Good Biosecurity Practices
The many unknowns at this point make the need for producers to adopt good biosecurity measures more important than ever. Gingrich says the AABP and the National Milk Producers Federation have teamed up to release a set of biosecurity guidelines for producer and veterinarian use. The guidelines and recommendations are available at bit.ly/3TGYMul.

The key points in the guidelines, Gingrich says, encourage dairy producers to minimize any opportunity for the transmission of HPAI by: minimizing livestock contact with wild, migratory birds, isolating new animals on the farm, limiting any visits to your farm to only essential workers and practicing good, general biosecurity measures.

“If you’re moving either your own cattle home from a heifer grower, or you’re purchasing animals, talk to your veterinarian about any potential screening that you might want to do for those cattle, which is just a good practice for any potential disease,” Gingrich advises. “Certainly, you just need to be careful about herd purchases when we have unknowns with an emerging viral event.”

Producers should use the same general precautions, Gingrich adds, for beef cattle and other livestock as well.

“Currently, there are no reports of HPAI in the U.S. beef herd, but certainly producers and veterinarians should be on alert to monitor and watch for any symptoms,” he says.

Five states, Delaware, Idaho, Nebraska, Tennessee and Utah, are taking additional precautions to increase their biosecurity measures. Dairy Herd Management’s Taylor Leach reports the Nebraska Department of Agriculture (NDA) has issued a restriction on the importation of dairy cattle because of the recent HPAI outbreaks. Learn more here: New Regulation: Dairy Cattle Entry into Nebraska Now Requires Permit Amid HPAI Bird Flu Concerns

Silver Linings In The Clouds
When dairy cows are affected by HPAI, they tend to be only a small percentage of the total herd.

“It only affects about 10% of the cows in a herd, and it does not cause mortality, and we’re thankful for that,” Gingrich says.

Furthermore, any risk to the U.S. public from consuming dairy and meat is very low, because pasteurization destroys the virus.

Looking Ahead
Moving forward in the days and weeks ahead, Gingrich recommends that producers work closely with their herd veterinarians and sign up for HPAI alerts as they are released by the Centers for Disease Control, USDA and other federal and state agencies.

“I think the first thing is to be on the lookout for the disease symptoms in your herd; don’t hide it. We all need to work together to continue the investigation. If you have a sudden drop in appetite and milk production in your herd, the first person you should call is your veterinarian and work through to get a diagnosis, whatever that might be,” he says.

“Secondly, we want dairy farmers to know that the veterinary community cares about you. And we certainly understand that this is a scary time. So make sure that you’re relying on your veterinarian and USDA and organizations like AABP for reliable information,” he adds.

Gingrich offers counsel for veterinarians as well. “Be aggressive with diagnostics, as the investigation is ongoing. Make sure that you are working with your diagnostic labs and state animal health officials to collect the appropriate diagnostics that we have posted on the AABP website. If you’re an AABP member, we have a reporting portal where you can identify the herds with this syndrome.”

Learn more about this evolving issue in the following articles. You can also listen to the AgriTalk discussion between Dr. Gingrich and AgriTalk Host Chip Flory at the link below:

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APHIS Now Thinks Wild Birds Are to Blame for Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza’s Arrival on Four U.S. Dairies

K-State is Now On a Mission to Estimate the Potential Economic Losses From Possible Foreign Animal Diseases

Thu, 26 Oct 2023 17:32:07 GMT

Nestled in the Flint Hills of Kansas is the town of Manhattan, home to Kansas State University. Take a drive across Kansas State University today, and signs of a major focus on biodefense, and animal agriculture specifically, are everywhere.

“We have NBAF here, which is the National Bio Agro-Defense Facility , that’s on the edge of campus. So, K-State really is right in the middle of the animal health industry,” says Dustin Pendell, director of the collaborating center for the economics of animal health Americas region, K-State University.

Pendell received some exciting news this summer: K-State had been chosen to lead a five-year global animal health effort, by opening a new center. Called the Collaborating Center for the Economics of Animal Health, Americas Region , the K-State University professor and economist already had some ambitious goals.

“In a decade from now, I hope that anywhere across the world, if anybody needs anything done related to economics for animal health, animal burdens or animal welfare, they immediately turn to K-State,” he says.

Starting to Assemble the Building Blocks

Pendell and team are just starting on the building blocks, ones that will develop decision-making tools and improve communication on the economic impacts of animal diseases

“When we think about this center, it’s veterinary data, it’s the disease data, including disease prevalence and disease incidents, in addition to economic data, like prices and quantities,” says Pendell. “But it takes a whole team of people and including data from a whole bunch of different sources and different disciplines to come together to study these animal health economic issues.”

K-State was selected by the World Organisation for Animal Health , which represents countries within North and South America.

“There are 33 countries in the Americas region that are members of the World Organisation for Animal Health. You’ve got Canada, Mexico, the United States. You also have all of Central America, and then South America and the Caribbean Islands,” he explains.

Pendell says here at home, livestock producers across the country are on high alert about the potential threat of animal diseases.

“Upfront, some of the current diseases that are here are high-path avian influenza, which was introduced recently, and you have ASF (African Swine Fever) knocking at the door. That’s another one that’s important,” says Pendell. “We’re working on some other diseases, endemic diseases, like bovine respiratory disease, etc., with folks over in the College of Veterinary Medicine. So, there’s going to be more than one disease (studied), per se. It’s going to probably be more of a portfolio approach.”

Sorting Out Priorities By Country

But he points out every country is different, so the focus for the U.S. is not always the same as the concerns for a country like Brazil.

“I spent some time in Brazil last month where they’re talking about TB, they’re talking about brucellosis issues that are a little different than maybe here in the United States,” he says. “And so there’ll be a lot of different issues, a lot of different diseases that we will focus on.”

The team is currently carving out the answer to what the priority diseases are by country, to then uncover the potential impact of the animal diseases that pose the biggest threat.

“Right now, we’re trying to visit with the various governments, and the animal health officials in these countries, to figure out what are the issues that that are most relevant, timely for them,” says Pendell. “Eventually, as we get up and running, it’s going to be anywhere from the producer to the consumer, and everybody in between, including the governments.”

National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility Located Next to K-State

Conveniently located down the road from Pendell is the new NBAF facility, a joint effort between the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), to protect agriculture against possible foreign animal diseases. While the research is not new, the location is.

“NBAF needed to replace Plum Island because Plum Island is more than 65 years old, and it doesn’t have the capability to meet growing research and diagnostic needs when it comes to emerging diseases, which are those that are new or not well known, as well as zoonotic diseases, which are those that transfer between animals and humans,” says Christian Young, biological scientist with the Foreign Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory. “So, NBAF will be able to continue as well as expand upon Plum Islands’ mission to protect U.S. agriculture and our food supply against terrorist attacks, major disasters and other emergencies.”

Pendell says having NBAF in Manhattan, Kan., was also a selling point to why the center he’s leading made sense, as he will explore the possible economic impacts of those potential diseases.

“The biggest opportunity being here in Manhattan, Kan., at Kansas State University, is I think the animal health industry here is only going to grow because of NBAF,” says Pendell. “I think there’s going to be so many opportunities in this space to add an economic component to the research that’s going on in this animal health space.”

An Important Tool for Livestock Producers, Livestock Industry

Pendell knows it’s a big undertaking, but it’s one that could change the game for livestock producers not just in Kansas, but around the globe.

“It’s important for livestock producers, because this is their livelihood. So our goal is to produce tools in which they can evaluate various biosecurity measures that can reduce the likelihood of a disease outbreak on their individual operation and protect their livelihood,” says Pendell.

Asian Longhorned Tick Marches into 17 States

Thu, 10 Feb 2022 21:44:57 GMT

What kind of pest can move into a country and sweep across a third of it in only four years? The Asian longhorned tick (ALT), for one.

A native of southeast Asia, the tick’s presence was formally recognized in the U.S. in 2017 in New Jersey. The tick was found on an imported Icelandic sheep and confirmed by the Rutgers Center for Vector Biology.

By last September, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) had confirmed the tick (Haemaphysalis longicornis) is now present in at least 17 states: Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia.

Many Tick Species
Ticks are a growing concern for public health officials. There are about 90 difference tick species in the U.S., and tick bites and tick-borne diseases more than tripled here between 2004 and 2016, according to the CDC. There were more than 70,000 cases of diseases spread by ticks in the U.S. in 2016 alone.

So how concerning is the ALT, relative to other tick species in the U.S.?

Researchers are unsure because the tick is relatively new here. The good news is while the ALT can carry a virus that does contribute to human hemorrhagic fever in eastern Asia, there have been no pathogens associated with ALT in the U.S., according to researchers at John Hopkins Medicine.

However, the ALT can be a parasitic problem in birds, wildlife, livestock and even dogs and cats. While the ALT has been found in limited numbers on horses, pigs, sheep, goats and chickens, it can cause economic losses via the disease, T. orientalis, in dairy and beef cattle, according to Kevin Lahmers, a veterinary pathologist at Virginia Tech.

It also is often present on pasture in large numbers. “It’s called hyperendemic. There can be hundreds of ticks on a person 30 to 60 seconds after they get off their ATV after they drive through a field,” Lahmers says. “You can find a density of 10 per blade of grass. That’s just a little weird, in my opinion, to think about that number of ticks,” he adds.

Common Characteristics
Research shows the Ikeda strain of T. orientalis can lead to severe clinical signs and death of up to 5% of affected animals, according to Drs. Kelcey D. Dinkel and David R. Herndon, respectfully, Department of Veterinary Microbiology & Pathology, Washington State University. They reported their findings in a March 2021 article published in Parasites & Vectors.

Common symptoms of T. orientalis in cattle are similar to anaplasmosis and include fever, anemia, jaundice and lethargy, Lahmers reports. However, the majority of cattle that contract the disease appear to be asymptomatic or minimally affected.

“We know that because whenever we find clinical cases, we sometimes see that 75% to 100% of the herd is positive at the time of the first detection of a clinical animal,” he reports. “So, some herds can have it without anyone knowing it.”

Once cattle are infected by the parasite, they often carry a large ALT load.

“The Asian longhorned tick has some things about it that make it challenging to address,” Lahmers says.
One, it reproduces by parthenogenesis, meaning it doesn’t need a mate.

“All of the ticks that have been observed in the United States so far are female. Because it doesn’t have to find a mate to reproduce, it can spread faster,” he says.

High Population Numbers
A single female ALT can create a large population of ticks. It produces 1,000 to 2,000 eggs at one time, according to the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS).

Also, because the ticks reproduce asexually, it appears there’s a shortened life cycle rather than a year-long life cycle. “We can see multiple stages – the larva, nymph, and adult – all at the same time on the same animal,” Lahmers explains.

And then there’s the issue of the sheer number of ticks that Lahmers and veterinarians sometimes see on an animal or in a pasture. The ticks can remain infected on a pasture for up to two years under favorable conditions

There is no effective treatment other than supportive care for clinically ill animals. Tick control, pasture management, and maintaining a good plane of nutrition are important preventive measures that can be implemented, Lahmers says.

Currently a PCR test is available on blood or by submitting the spleen of necropsied animals to differentiate the disease from anaplasmosis. If veterinarians or producers suspect the disease in their area, they are encouraged to let their state department of agriculture know.