Diseases

The Idaho State Department of Agriculture announced that HPAI, known as highly pathogenic avian influenza, or bird flu, has been found in dairy cattle in Idaho.

The Texas Department of State Health Services reports that a human case of bird flu has been confirmed in Texas and identified in a person who had direct exposure to dairy cattle presumed to be infected with the disease.

In an effort to increase its biosecurity measures against HPAI, also known as bird flu, the Nebraska Department of Agriculture has issued a 30 day restriction on the importation of dairy cattle.

While HPAI has been detected in predatory mammals that prey on infected birds, this is the first identified case of HPAI in domestic livestock in the U.S.

The study of animal disease emerged as a systematic science in the 18th century, and USDA first engaged in such work in 1883. USDA’s new National Bio- and AgroDefense Facility is on the verge of opening in Kansas.

The case occurred in a person who had direct exposure to poultry and was involved in the culling process of poultry with presumptive H5N1 bird flu, reports the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Is chronic wasting disease (CWD) a potential time bomb for the agriculture industry? A silent killer stalking deer and elk, CWD continues to move quietly across the U.S.