August 8, 2024

 

Colorado, US, imposes mandatory surveillance on commercial cow dairies

 

 

The Department of Agriculture of Colorado, the United States, is implementing mandatory statewide surveillance for all Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment licensed commercial cow dairies, in an effort to combat the spread of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI).

 

The action will help identify any additional infected dairies with the virus with the goal of preventing further spread of the disease, the department said. The order for statewide mandatory bulk-tank HPAI testing by the Commissioner of Agriculture was issued on July 22.

 

"We have been navigating this challenging, novel outbreak of HPAI in dairy operations for nearly three months in Colorado and have not been able to curb the spread of disease at this point," said State Veterinarian Dr. Maggie Baldwin. "We have seen devastating impacts of this disease not only to our dairy industry, but our poultry industry as well. With the strong support of the dairy and poultry industries, we feel that this is the best next step in order to protect these vital industries in our state."

 

Colorado is now experiencing spillover of the dairy H5N1 strain, genotype B 3.13, into commercial poultry facilities.

 

The state has had two spillover events, confirmed through genomic sequencing, and one presumptive spillover event from dairy operations into commercial poultry operations that have resulted in the death and depopulation of more than 3.2 million domestic chickens in July. 

 

The statewide surveillance will take place under the joint supervision of CDA and CDPHE with support from the US Department of Agriculture and will remain until further notice by the Commissioner of Agriculture or State Veterinarian.

 

Dairy producers will receive further guidance directly on the implementation of the order to meet the testing requirements.

 

During this time, all Colorado CDPHE licensed dairy cow facilities with lactating dairy cattle that produce products for human consumption will be required to submit weekly samples for testing. These samples will be collected by CDPHE-certified collection samplers and tested by the Colorado State University Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory.

 

Dairies currently under order of quarantine or order for testing are subject to those specific orders. This does not include raw milk facilities.

 

"We appreciate the ongoing cooperation and partnership with both the poultry and dairy industries," said Colorado Commissioner of Agriculture Kate Greenberg. "Mandatory surveillance of highly pathogenic avian influenza across all of Colorado's Grade A commercial dairies is a critical next step to tamping down the virus and protecting the food system. Ongoing cooperation is key to supporting workers' health and safety, protecting animal health and welfare, and minimising the spread of the virus."

- Colorado Department of Agriculture