Bird Flu Detected in Oklahoma Cattle Herd

Cows graze in a field at a dairy farm in Petaluma, Calif., on April 26, 2024. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

A herd of dairy cattle in Oklahoma has tested positive for bird flu, making it the 13th state with a confirmed infection in cows.

The Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry first announced on July 12 that a sample has returned positive for H5N1, a strain of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI).

The state agency said there is no concern about the safety of pasteurized milk or dairy products, as the commercial supply remains safe due to both federal animal health requirements and pasteurization.

An Oklahoma dairy collected the samples in April when it suspected the herd might have been infected, according to Lee Benson, a spokesperson for the Oklahoma Agriculture Department.

“The confirmed positive is from one Oklahoma dairy,” Mr. Benson told The Epoch Times. “There are two separate barns that milk the dairy cows, and one sample was collected from each barn. The barns share the same owner, manager, and the herd moves back and forth between the two locations.”

The farm didn’t immediately send the samples for a test, but only recently submitted them to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Mr. Benson said. The dairy herd has fully recovered, and the farm has not reported any other cases of H5N1.

On its website, the USDA lists two confirmed cases in Oklahoma. Mr. Benson said it’s possible that the USDA treated each dairy barn as a separate affected group.

The federal agency did not respond to a request for comment before publication.

Other states that have reported infected livestock herds are Colorado, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, South Dakota, Texas, and Wyoming. The USDA confirmed the first H5N1 case in a dairy herd on March 25.

Containing the Virus

To contain the spread of bird flu, dairy farmers have banned visitors, cut down trees to discourage wild birds from landing, and disinfected vehicles driving on their land.

“We have been monitoring detections of HPAI in other states since the first detection in March,” said Oklahoma state veterinarian Dr. Rod Hall in a news release. “Our team has been in constant communication with Oklahoma dairies asking them to heighten their biosecurity practices. [Personal protective equipment] has also been made available to Oklahoma dairy farmers.”

On April 1, a dairy worker in Texas tested positive for H5N1 after working with infected dairy cows. The case in Texas was the first known instance of a person contracting bird flu from a cow, according to the U.S. Centers of Disease Control and Prevention.

Over the weekend, Colorado announced that five workers involved in the culling of chickens at an H5N1-infected poultry farm had tested positive for the virus.

The poultry workers’ cases could be a result of working directly with infected birds, the state said. They had mild symptoms including conjunctivitis—also known as pink eye—and common respiratory problems, but none of them were hospitalized.