On Friday, May 30^th the USDA allocated an additional $824 million to help monitor and limit the spread of bird flu. This fund will help pay dairy farmers to test their herds, assist with veterinary costs, and other monitoring and food safety activities. The USDA has also launched a voluntary pilot program to provide more testing options for farmers. As of June 7^th, 83 herds in 9 states have been affected, and 3 people in the U.S. have tested positive since January.

Bird flu, also known as Influenza A, avian flu, H5N1 or H5N2 has been found globally in wild bird populations, and has caused outbreaks in poultry and dairy cows in the U.S. As of June 7^th, 2024 there have been four total reported cases of bird flu in humans. One in a poultry farmer in 2022, and three in dairy cow farmers since April 1^st, 2024. There have been no known instances of person-to-person spread.

The CDC and local health departments monitor people exposed to known infected cattle or birds for 10 days after exposure, which includes over 500 people exposed to sick cows monitored for symptoms since April 2024, and over 9,700 people monitored who were exposed to sick poultry since February 2022. The CDC also monitors emergency department trends, and clinical laboratory data to watch for signs of bird flu in people.

Under the new Voluntary H5N1 Dairy Herd Status Pilot Program, enrolled farmers who demonstrate their herds are free of bird flu for three weeks in a row through testing and continue to test bulk milk weekly will be able to move their cows between states without other mandatory testing if all tests from weekly monitoring are negative.

This new voluntary program gives the farmers more flexibility in when they can move their cows and means that cows would be monitored weekly and not just when they are moved across state lines. The USDA is strongly encouraging all dairy farmers to enroll in this program. Information on how to enroll will be found at aphis.usda.gov when it becomes available.

The additional emergency funding is dedicated to bird flu surveillance in wildlife, increased food safety monitoring, and support for the Agriculture Research Service in working toward vaccines for Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) in cattle, turkeys, pigs, and goats, as well as the Food Safety and Inspection Service’s food safety studies.

It was recently reported that on April 24^th, a man in Mexico died from an infection with bird flu strain H5N2, which is a different strain than what is circulating in the U.S. right now (H5N1). This person had several underlying medical conditions, and experts are still learning how he contracted the virus and are waiting on genetic sequencing for further information on the strain of bird flu that infected the farmer.