Bird flu continues to spread to dairy cows in the United States

“Unfortunately, I can't see any steps being taken to stop what's happening so quickly,” Beer said. There is a lack of comprehensive monitoring. “There are about 25,000 dairy farms in the United States, and I don't know how many of them have been inspected. But only a fraction.” In the US state of Colorado, extensive investigations are underway, with around 60 of the less than 300 companies affected.

Peer said free testing of traffic between companies should be much closer. Measures such as segregation or killing of animals should be taken in affected establishments. “From a purely combat point of view, not enough has been done.”

The H5N1 virus from animals, which can also infect humans, continues to spread, the expert said. According to the CDC, 34 human cases had been reported in the U.S. by Friday — mostly employees of dairy farms and poultry farms and with milder cases. Fortunately, there are no signs so far of the virus quickly adapting to livestock or humans, Beer said.

A study published by Beer in the journal “Nature” showed that the virus is transmitted primarily through milk, and primarily through milking utensils. Infection occurs through cattle udders. FLI estimates that the risk of a virus variant circulating in the US entering German dairy farms is negligible.

In recent years, avian influenza has spread across the globe to an unprecedented extent. Australia is the only continent that has been spared so far. Last year, the H5N1 virus reached Antarctica, home to, among other things, countless penguins and endangered marine mammals.