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Headlines for H5N1
Nevada Confirms State’s First Human Case of Bird Flu in a Dairy Worker
Trump Team Taps Bird Flu Expert to Lead Pandemic Response Unit
HPAI Dairy Cattle Research Lasers in on Transmission Points
Trump Administration Shifts Strategy on Avian Flu
Zoetis Receives Approval for HPAI Vaccine
H5N1 Found in AZ after Silo Testing
There’s been no shortage of news stories on the H5N1 front, so we thought it best to include our own little headline section for this article.
New Positive Tests Out of Nevada and Arizona
On a state level, we have more positives out of Nevada and our first employee with H5N1 in the Silver State (a free ice cream sandwich at the 2026 Georgia Dairy Conference for our readers who knew Nevada was the Silver State). The employee experienced conjunctivitis and there is no evidence of person to person transmission. As we reported in our last E-News (week before last), the Nevada cases of H5N1 are a different genotype from the cases we saw in the other 16 states. This genotype is the D1.1 type that is, according to USDA APHIS email industry alert from last week, “the predominant genotype in the North American flyways this past fall and winter and has been identified in wild birds, mammals, and spillovers into domestic poultry.”
The working theory is that the Nevada case was a spillover from wild birds. The news late last week that USDA’s National Veterinary Services Laboratory (NVSL) detected a positive H5N1 D1.1 genotype positive test from Arizona supports this theory. Early reports indicate that the Nevada and Arizona cases, while both having the same genotype, are not related and most likely spillover events from wild birds.
For now, USDA is pointing to the National Milk Testing Strategy and its effectiveness in identifying the Nevada and Arizona cases early. USDA also states that its plan to establish surveillance testing across the lower 48 remains unchanged. Here in Georgia, the Georgia Department of Agriculture has been conducting silo-level testing at our two commercial milk plants and at on-farm processors for several weeks. There is the possibility of even more Georgia milk being tested with increased silo sampling done in neighboring states where raw milk from Georgia is often shipped. Our neighboring states are all working with their state veterinarians, Departments of Ag and Health, and producer groups to determine a plan that works best for them.
Shift in HPAI Strategy with New Admin?
With the swearing in of a new Secretary of Agriculture, USDA has announced a shift in its policy for handling bird flu. This comes on the announcement that Zoetis has been approved for an HPAI vaccine in poultry. While several major ag groups applaud the announcement of a vaccine, there are some concerns about ramifications for foreign trade for poultry protein. Click the article above titled "Trump Administration Shifts Strategy on Avian Flu" to read more about that
CDC Report on Veterinarians
Lastly, most of our producer-members received our update late last week about a CDC report which seemed to insinuate a veterinarian from Georgia had been exposed to H5N1. We aren’t linking to any articles covering the CDC report because so many of them have been misleading or incorrectly summarized the report. To summarize, representatives from CDC and the Ohio Department of Public Health conducted a study at the American Association of Bovine Practitioners conference in Columbus, OH last September where they drew blood from 150 veterinarians in attendance and had the donors complete a survey/questionnaire about their practice and possible influenza exposure. Antibody tests for H5 influenza (different from the specific H5N1 virus) showed 3 out of 150 veterinarians had the antibodies. Two had worked on cattle in states with known cases of H5N1 or worked with poultry. One veterinarian with antibodies claimed to practice on dairy and beef cattle (one type of cattle in Georgia and the other in South Carolina). The report hints that this is definitive proof of “missed detections of H5N1,” but it should be noted that the report doesn’t contemplate other risk factors like exposure to wild birds or dead wildlife, nor does it explain that presence of antibodies does not constitute definitive proof of infection in humans.
H5N1 Resources for Dairy Farmers
To learn more about USDA’s response to HPAI in dairy cattle, visit www.aphis.usda.gov/livestock-poultry-disease/avian/avian-influenza/hpai-detections/livestock.
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