Ohio update in the wake of new USDA milk testing for H5N1 in dairy

By Matt Reese

Back in March of 2024, H5N1 highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) was found in dairy cattle in Texas. Shortly after, a Wood County dairy herd in Ohio that had received cows from a Texas dairy reported a confirmed detection of HPAI. Since then, the Ohio dairy industry has worked hard to prevent, research and control the spread of H5N1 in the Ohio herd, said Shaun Wellert, D.V.M. with Ohio State ATI College of Food, Agriculture and Environmental Sciences at Wooster.

“Currently we are really in a good spot here in Ohio. We haven’t had any additional outbreaks confirmed after the one earlier in 2024 on the one farm that initially got it. It was pretty well contained. With the implementation of the testing and some limitations with quarantine of moving animals, we’ve actually done really well in Ohio and avoided most of the effects of this virus, which is a little different from other parts of the country,” Wellert said.… Continue reading