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By Tom Polansek and Leah Douglas

CHICAGO, July 23 (Reuters) – Colorado began requiring dairies to test milk supplies for bird flu every week, the state’s veterinarian told Reuters on Tuesday, as a federal team arrived to help investigate an escalating outbreak in cows that has spread to chickens and people.

The state’s new mandate aims to identify additional farms that could be infected and spread the disease to other dairies or poultry flocks, after the largest cluster of human cases to date in the United States occurred on a Colorado farm this month.

Bird flu infections linked to dairy cows have wiped out 3.1 million egg-laying chickens in Colorado in recent weeks, and poultry workers also tested positive.

In Colorado, the loss of millions of chickens triggered the requirement for licensed dairies with lactating cows to test bulk milk supplies weekly, state veterinarian Maggie Baldwin said in an interview. About 70% of the state’s laying hens were eliminated, according to U.S. data.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture since late April has required testing for lactating cows that are being shipped over state lines. The agency later launched a voluntary program to test bulk milk supplies.

A USDA epidemiological “strike team” arrived in Colorado this week to assess how the virus may be spreading among dairies there, Baldwin said. Workers or vehicles can carry the virus from farms.

Six Colorado farm workers tested positive for bird flu in July after culling chickens at an infected egg farm, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.

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Via https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/colorado-ramps-up-bird-flu-response-requires-milk-testing-2024-07-23/