By LYNNE TERRY/Oregon Capital Chronicle
SALEM — Oregon will start testing milk this week for bird flu as part of a federal program to monitor the virus, which has turned up in animals and people, including one person in Oregon.
The Oregon Department of Agriculture announced Wednesday that certain dairy processors will collect samples of raw milk and send them to the state’s veterinary diagnostic laboratory on the Oregon State University campus to test for a virulent strain of bird flu — the H5N1 virus — which is common in wild birds and spread during migrations. The department did not say how many processors will be involved initially but said officials plan to monitor 75% of the commercial milk supply in the state by Jan. 1.
Ryan Scholz, the state veterinarian, said the program should give Oregon farmers, farmworkers and consumers more confidence in the state’s food supply.
The current strain of the virus turned up in 2022 and has been found in about 40 backyard flocks in Oregon and in flocks in the rest of the country. It’s also affected commercial poultry operations, including in Clackamas County. Since 2022, there have been more than 121,000 birds affected in 49 states, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
This March it was identified in dairy cows in Texas, and animals from that herd were shipped elsewhere. Since March, officials have monitored outbreaks in about 720 herds, with about one-third in California.
“We have been working very closely with Oregon’s dairy industry and processors since the first cow tested positive for H5N1 in Texas back in March 2024,” Scholtz said in a release.
Two pigs on a small, noncommercial Oregon farm in Crook County have also been infected, the first such pig cases nationwide.
And nearly 60 people, mostly farmworkers, have been infected, with more than 30 cases in California. Colorado and Washington state have had about 10 people each who’ve been infected and there has been one case in Oregon that was connected to the Clackamas County poultry operation. Oregon health officials declined to release any details but said the person was treated with an antiviral medication.
The virus has yet to spread from people to people, but the cattle and pig infections worry epidemiologists. Pigs, in particular, can get human influenza, and if a pig were infected with both viruses, bird flu could mutate and become a bigger threat to humans, according to Dr. Dean Sidelinger, the state epidemiologist.
The raw milk testing is part of a nationwide program under the U.S. Department of Agriculture to monitor the spread of bird flu. Five other states are also participating in this first round of testing: California, Colorado, Michigan, Mississippi and Pennsylvania.
Oregon allows the sale of raw milk but consumers can only buy it directly from the farm: It is not sold in grocery stores. Washington state, however, allows the sale in stores, and there have been a number of outbreaks there associated with it.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has tested pasteurized milk in stores and found no indication of the virus, and other dairy products have also been found to be safe. Pasteurization kills the virus and other pathogens but they can taint raw milk, which is why food safety experts say that consumers should avoid it.
State and U.S. officials say that biosecurity practices are the best weapon to prevent spread of the disease. They include measures such as separating sick animals, wearing personal protective equipment and limiting visitors and contact with outside animals to avoid spread among species. USDA officials had hoped these measures would prevent the spread of the virus among herds but that’s not happened.
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