CDC dairy flu Friday update

[RonO]

https://www.cdc.gov/bird-flu/spotlights/cdc-bird-flu-response.html

The CDC is indicating that things are worse than have been cited in the
press in California. Instead of 11 dairy workers infected with the
Dairy influenza the CDC is claiming that they have confirmed 13 human
cases. It sounds like they had confirmed 9 of the cases this week
ending Friday the 18th. They are still down playing the dairy worker
infections, and have not changed their plans of trying to deal with the
next pandemic when it gets started instead of trying to prevent it. You
have to start wondering if California would have even been infected if
the CDC and USDA had started contact tracing and testing dairy herds and
had identified the infected herds early in the epidemic. All the CDC
did was tell the workers to wear protective gear when working with
infected animals, but they refused to identify all the farms with
infected animals so that the workers would know when they should wear
protective gear.

Two California human cases have been confirmed by viral genomic sequence
to be the B3.13 dairy influenza H5N1 genotype. For some reason they do
not state that the H5 sequences had 2 and 3 amino acid substitutions in
them that could affect H5 antibody binding, but they do state the
negative results that no amino acid changes in the H5 gene were those
that would make the virus more infective in humans (They are looking for
2 substitutions that facilitate binding to the most common human viral
receptors) and they claim that the virus do not have the mutations that
would make them more resistant to anti viral drugs. In terms of their
strategy to wait until the virus starts the next pandemic by evolving to
be transmitted between humans the fact that their vaccine strategy will
likely not work due to the H5 mutations in the latest human patients is
not stated by them.

It is just a fact that the more dairy workers infected the more chance
of the virus mutating and being selected to be more infective in a human
host. Instead of attempt to prevent that from happening the CDC decided
to "monitor" the situation and wait for the virus to start being
transmitted in the human population before trying to do something about
it. They stock piled H5 influenza vaccine, but the latest human
infections had mutations in the H5 gene that likely make that vaccine
pretty much worthless. The CDC has admitted that the Missouri mutations
reduced neutralizing ability of the available H5 antibodies and that
they need to create a synthetic H5 genes with the Missouri mutations in
it in order to test for dairy influenza antibodies in the Missouri
patient contacts that showed symptoms. Everyone is still waiting for
those results that would verify human to human transmission if any of
the contacts are positive.

The CDC just can't seem to admit that they have been wrong, and they are
unwilling to do what California has been doing in tracing contacts and
testing dairy herds. California wasn't even testing the workers, they
were just assuming that they could transmit the virus, and identified
more infected herds than anyone else in such a short period of time, and
in testing workers that showed symptoms they found virus positive
workers that were obviously shedding virus. The USDA and CDC have known
for a very long time that it was likely infected dairy workers that took
the virus to poultry farms. Both Texas and Michigan determined that
dairy workers at infected farms worked at more than one dairy, and some
of them also worked on poultry farms (around 8% of the dairy workers at
known infected farms also worked on poultry farms). They knew that the
virus only was infective off of clothing or skin for less than 30
minutes. They tried to claim that equipment may have been transferred
from a dairy to the infected poultry farm in Texas because they knew
that it would not have been the humans that took the fictional equipment
(no equipment was ever verified to have been transferred). They also
knew that the infected states that had not gotten infected cattle likely
did get migrant farm workers from infected states. It wasn't rocket
science, but they refused to start testing dairy workers, and perform
contact tracing that would have proven them wrong.

TO has seen this same refusal to face reality among the IDiots and other
creationists posters before them. Not including the data about the H5
gene mutations that would affect vaccine efficacy is a common
creationist tactic seen on TO.

Ron Okimoto

[RonO]

Post by RonO
https://www.cdc.gov/bird-flu/spotlights/cdc-bird-flu-response.html
The CDC is indicating that things are worse than have been cited in the
press in California.  Instead of 11 dairy workers infected with the
Dairy influenza the CDC is claiming that they have confirmed 13 human
cases.  It sounds like they had confirmed 9 of the cases this week
ending Friday the 18th.  They are still down playing the dairy worker
infections, and have not changed their plans of trying to deal with the
next pandemic when it gets started instead of trying to prevent it.  You
have to start wondering if California would have even been infected if
the CDC and USDA had started contact tracing and testing dairy herds and
had identified the infected herds early in the epidemic.  All the CDC
did was tell the workers to wear protective gear when working with
infected animals, but they refused to identify all the farms with
infected animals so that the workers would know when they should wear
protective gear.
Two California human cases have been confirmed by viral genomic sequence
to be the B3.13 dairy influenza H5N1 genotype.  For some reason they do
not state that the H5 sequences had 2 and 3 amino acid substitutions in
them that could affect H5 antibody binding, but they do state the
negative results that no amino acid changes in the H5 gene were those
that would make the virus more infective in humans (They are looking for
2 substitutions that facilitate binding to the most common human viral
receptors) and they claim that the virus do not have the mutations that
would make them more resistant to anti viral drugs.  In terms of their
strategy to wait until the virus starts the next pandemic by evolving to
be transmitted between humans the fact that their vaccine strategy will
likely not work due to the H5 mutations in the latest human patients is
not stated by them.
It is just a fact that the more dairy workers infected the more chance
of the virus mutating and being selected to be more infective in a human
host.  Instead of attempt to prevent that from happening the CDC decided
to "monitor" the situation and wait for the virus to start being
transmitted in the human population before trying to do something about
it.  They stock piled H5 influenza vaccine, but the latest human
infections had mutations in the H5 gene that likely make that vaccine
pretty much worthless.  The CDC has admitted that the Missouri mutations
reduced neutralizing ability of the available H5 antibodies and that
they need to create a synthetic H5 genes with the Missouri mutations in
it in order to test for dairy influenza antibodies in the Missouri
patient contacts that showed symptoms.  Everyone is still waiting for
those results that would verify human to human transmission if any of
the contacts are positive.
The CDC just can't seem to admit that they have been wrong, and they are
unwilling to do what California has been doing in tracing contacts and
testing dairy herds.  California wasn't even testing the workers, they
were just assuming that they could transmit the virus, and identified
more infected herds than anyone else in such a short period of time, and
in testing workers that showed symptoms they found virus positive
workers that were obviously shedding virus.  The USDA and CDC have known
for a very long time that it was likely infected dairy workers that took
the virus to poultry farms.  Both Texas and Michigan determined that
dairy workers at infected farms worked at more than one dairy, and some
of them also worked on poultry farms (around 8% of the dairy workers at
known infected farms also worked on poultry farms).  They knew that the
virus only was infective off of clothing or skin for less than 30
minutes.  They tried to claim that equipment may have been transferred
from a dairy to the infected poultry farm in Texas because they knew
that it would not have been the humans that took the fictional equipment
(no equipment was ever verified to have been transferred).  They also
knew that the infected states that had not gotten infected cattle likely
did get migrant farm workers from infected states.  It wasn't rocket
science, but they refused to start testing dairy workers, and perform
contact tracing that would have proven them wrong.
TO has seen this same refusal to face reality among the IDiots and other
creationists posters before them.  Not including the data about the H5
gene mutations that would affect vaccine efficacy is a common
creationist tactic seen on TO.
Ron Okimoto

https://www.latimes.com/environment/story/2024-10-20/as-bird-flu-outbreaks-rise-piles-of-dead-cows-become-morbid-central-valley-tableau

The LA times has some pictures of dead cows and claims that 124 herds
and 13 people have been found to be infected with the dairy virus.
Apparently the heat may be contributing to mortality, but I haven't seen
claims as to exactly what is killing the dairy cows. Previously the
worst cases seemed to have gut infections that reduced nutrient uptake
and took the cows out of milk production. The virus was nearly always
found in milk due to mammary gland infection, and was often not detected
as a respiratory infection using nasal swabs. Some how the mortality
has gone from around 2% to between 10 and 15% of infected, and carcasses
are becoming a disposal issue.

In the article they claim that decomposition kills the virus, and it
doesn't survive long on skin or fur so the carcasses are not much of a
threat for spreading the virus even if scavengers get to the carcass.

Ron Okimoto

[RonO]

Post by RonO
https://www.cdc.gov/bird-flu/spotlights/cdc-bird-flu-response.html
The CDC is indicating that things are worse than have been cited in the
press in California.  Instead of 11 dairy workers infected with the
Dairy influenza the CDC is claiming that they have confirmed 13 human
cases.  It sounds like they had confirmed 9 of the cases this week
ending Friday the 18th.  They are still down playing the dairy worker
infections, and have not changed their plans of trying to deal with the
next pandemic when it gets started instead of trying to prevent it.  You
have to start wondering if California would have even been infected if
the CDC and USDA had started contact tracing and testing dairy herds and
had identified the infected herds early in the epidemic.  All the CDC
did was tell the workers to wear protective gear when working with
infected animals, but they refused to identify all the farms with
infected animals so that the workers would know when they should wear
protective gear.
Two California human cases have been confirmed by viral genomic sequence
to be the B3.13 dairy influenza H5N1 genotype.  For some reason they do
not state that the H5 sequences had 2 and 3 amino acid substitutions in
them that could affect H5 antibody binding, but they do state the
negative results that no amino acid changes in the H5 gene were those
that would make the virus more infective in humans (They are looking for
2 substitutions that facilitate binding to the most common human viral
receptors) and they claim that the virus do not have the mutations that
would make them more resistant to anti viral drugs.  In terms of their
strategy to wait until the virus starts the next pandemic by evolving to
be transmitted between humans the fact that their vaccine strategy will
likely not work due to the H5 mutations in the latest human patients is
not stated by them.
It is just a fact that the more dairy workers infected the more chance
of the virus mutating and being selected to be more infective in a human
host.  Instead of attempt to prevent that from happening the CDC decided
to "monitor" the situation and wait for the virus to start being
transmitted in the human population before trying to do something about
it.  They stock piled H5 influenza vaccine, but the latest human
infections had mutations in the H5 gene that likely make that vaccine
pretty much worthless.  The CDC has admitted that the Missouri mutations
reduced neutralizing ability of the available H5 antibodies and that
they need to create a synthetic H5 genes with the Missouri mutations in
it in order to test for dairy influenza antibodies in the Missouri
patient contacts that showed symptoms.  Everyone is still waiting for
those results that would verify human to human transmission if any of
the contacts are positive.
The CDC just can't seem to admit that they have been wrong, and they are
unwilling to do what California has been doing in tracing contacts and
testing dairy herds.  California wasn't even testing the workers, they
were just assuming that they could transmit the virus, and identified
more infected herds than anyone else in such a short period of time, and
in testing workers that showed symptoms they found virus positive
workers that were obviously shedding virus.  The USDA and CDC have known
for a very long time that it was likely infected dairy workers that took
the virus to poultry farms.  Both Texas and Michigan determined that
dairy workers at infected farms worked at more than one dairy, and some
of them also worked on poultry farms (around 8% of the dairy workers at
known infected farms also worked on poultry farms).  They knew that the
virus only was infective off of clothing or skin for less than 30
minutes.  They tried to claim that equipment may have been transferred
from a dairy to the infected poultry farm in Texas because they knew
that it would not have been the humans that took the fictional equipment
(no equipment was ever verified to have been transferred).  They also
knew that the infected states that had not gotten infected cattle likely
did get migrant farm workers from infected states.  It wasn't rocket
science, but they refused to start testing dairy workers, and perform
contact tracing that would have proven them wrong.
TO has seen this same refusal to face reality among the IDiots and other
creationists posters before them.  Not including the data about the H5
gene mutations that would affect vaccine efficacy is a common
creationist tactic seen on TO.
Ron Okimoto

The "lie of omission" seems to have been adopted by the CDC. In the
"Recommendations" section they continue to claim that Pastuerization
kills avian influenza, but do not cite their own recent research
indicating that influenza survives and is infectious after the most
common pasteurization method (72 degrees C for 15 to 20 seconds). The
63 degree C method for 30 minutes decreased viable virus to below
detection levels, but the 72 degree method did not. The CDC research
published in their November 2024 news letter indicates that the FDA
claims that the milk supply is safe is questionable, but the CDC is not
acting on their own findings.

https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/30/11/24-0772_article

This research data is publicly available now, and the CDC has likely
known about it for months. In light of the possible gut infection of
the Missouri patient the CDC seems to be willfully not acknowledging
their own research results. Avian influenza infects the guts of birds,
and the dairy influenza has infected the guts of some of the cattle
(some with debilitating gut infections). It has been known from the
beginning that the farm cats were infected by drinking raw milk.

Ron Okimoto

[RonO]

Post by RonO
https://www.cdc.gov/bird-flu/spotlights/cdc-bird-flu-response.html
The CDC is indicating that things are worse than have been cited in
the press in California.  Instead of 11 dairy workers infected with
the Dairy influenza the CDC is claiming that they have confirmed 13
human cases.  It sounds like they had confirmed 9 of the cases this
week ending Friday the 18th.  They are still down playing the dairy
worker infections, and have not changed their plans of trying to deal
with the next pandemic when it gets started instead of trying to
prevent it.  You have to start wondering if California would have even
been infected if the CDC and USDA had started contact tracing and
testing dairy herds and had identified the infected herds early in the
epidemic.  All the CDC did was tell the workers to wear protective
gear when working with infected animals, but they refused to identify
all the farms with infected animals so that the workers would know
when they should wear protective gear.
Two California human cases have been confirmed by viral genomic
sequence to be the B3.13 dairy influenza H5N1 genotype.  For some
reason they do not state that the H5 sequences had 2 and 3 amino acid
substitutions in them that could affect H5 antibody binding, but they
do state the negative results that no amino acid changes in the H5
gene were those that would make the virus more infective in humans
(They are looking for 2 substitutions that facilitate binding to the
most common human viral receptors) and they claim that the virus do
not have the mutations that would make them more resistant to anti
viral drugs.  In terms of their strategy to wait until the virus
starts the next pandemic by evolving to be transmitted between humans
the fact that their vaccine strategy will likely not work due to the
H5 mutations in the latest human patients is not stated by them.
It is just a fact that the more dairy workers infected the more chance
of the virus mutating and being selected to be more infective in a
human host.  Instead of attempt to prevent that from happening the CDC
decided to "monitor" the situation and wait for the virus to start
being transmitted in the human population before trying to do
something about it.  They stock piled H5 influenza vaccine, but the
latest human infections had mutations in the H5 gene that likely make
that vaccine pretty much worthless.  The CDC has admitted that the
Missouri mutations reduced neutralizing ability of the available H5
antibodies and that they need to create a synthetic H5 genes with the
Missouri mutations in it in order to test for dairy influenza
antibodies in the Missouri patient contacts that showed symptoms.
Everyone is still waiting for those results that would verify human to
human transmission if any of the contacts are positive.
The CDC just can't seem to admit that they have been wrong, and they
are unwilling to do what California has been doing in tracing contacts
and testing dairy herds.  California wasn't even testing the workers,
they were just assuming that they could transmit the virus, and
identified more infected herds than anyone else in such a short period
of time, and in testing workers that showed symptoms they found virus
positive workers that were obviously shedding virus.  The USDA and CDC
have known for a very long time that it was likely infected dairy
workers that took the virus to poultry farms.  Both Texas and Michigan
determined that dairy workers at infected farms worked at more than
one dairy, and some of them also worked on poultry farms (around 8% of
the dairy workers at known infected farms also worked on poultry
farms).  They knew that the virus only was infective off of clothing
or skin for less than 30 minutes.  They tried to claim that equipment
may have been transferred from a dairy to the infected poultry farm in
Texas because they knew that it would not have been the humans that
took the fictional equipment (no equipment was ever verified to have
been transferred).  They also knew that the infected states that had
not gotten infected cattle likely did get migrant farm workers from
infected states.  It wasn't rocket science, but they refused to start
testing dairy workers, and perform contact tracing that would have
proven them wrong.
TO has seen this same refusal to face reality among the IDiots and
other creationists posters before them.  Not including the data about
the H5 gene mutations that would affect vaccine efficacy is a common
creationist tactic seen on TO.
Ron Okimoto

The "lie of omission" seems to have been adopted by the CDC.  In the
"Recommendations" section they continue to claim that Pastuerization
kills avian influenza, but do not cite their own recent research
indicating that influenza survives and is infectious after the most
common pasteurization method (72 degrees C for 15 to 20 seconds).  The
63 degree C method for 30 minutes decreased viable virus to below
detection levels, but the 72 degree method did not.  The CDC research
published in their November 2024 news letter indicates that the FDA
claims that the milk supply is safe is questionable, but the CDC is not
acting on their own findings.
https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/30/11/24-0772_article
This research data is publicly available now, and the CDC has likely
known about it for months.  In light of the possible gut infection of
the Missouri patient the CDC seems to be willfully not acknowledging
their own research results.  Avian influenza infects the guts of birds,
and the dairy influenza has infected the guts of some of the cattle
(some with debilitating gut infections).  It has been known from the
beginning that the farm cats were infected by drinking raw milk.
Ron Okimoto

The USDA updated their site to claim 4 more infected herds in California
making the total, at least, 128. It may be that California has had
infected herds for some time before they were first reported at the end
of August. It would take a lot of infected workers taking the virus to
this many herds in such a short period of time. The workers or infected
cattle would have to take the virus to a new herd, that herd would need
time to infect enough cattle for more workers to be infected so that
they could take the virus to more farms. There are likely more farms
that have been submitted for verification, and California wants to start
testing farms in counties that have not yet claimed to have infected
herds. The claim is that there are "more than 1,100 dairy farms in
California with over 1.7 million dairy cattle. The farm with 2 verified
infected workers had over 5,000 cows on the farm. More than 10% of the
dairy farms in California have already been confirmed to have been
infected with the dairy influenza.

https://www.aphis.usda.gov/livestock-poultry-disease/avian/avian-influenza/hpai-detections/hpai-confirmed-cases-livestock

The additional herds are claimed to have been confirmed Sat. Oct 19th,
but the update just showed up on the web.

It could be that dairy worker close contacts could also be tramsmitting
the virus to other herds if this many herds have been infected in such a
short period of time. The first half dozen farms to be detected were
hoped to have contained the infection because they shared workers and
equipment, but those farms may not have been the first to be infected.
Additional contact tracing has led to over a hundred farms to be
identified as being infected. Infection rate of dairy workers would
have to be much higher than the CDC has been claiming as "sporadic" to
infect this many herds. Even after the testing of dairy workers with
symptoms started the CDC only increased the number of workers tested to
more than 260 from more than 250 when they had confirmed 13 more worker
infections. That likely means that just about everyone of the workers
California has tested was positive. They have only claimed to test
workers with symptoms. Asymptomatic workers have gone untested.

Ron Okimoto

[RonO]

Post by RonO

Post by RonO
https://www.cdc.gov/bird-flu/spotlights/cdc-bird-flu-response.html
The CDC is indicating that things are worse than have been cited in
the press in California.  Instead of 11 dairy workers infected with
the Dairy influenza the CDC is claiming that they have confirmed 13
human cases.  It sounds like they had confirmed 9 of the cases this
week ending Friday the 18th.  They are still down playing the dairy
worker infections, and have not changed their plans of trying to deal
with the next pandemic when it gets started instead of trying to
prevent it.  You have to start wondering if California would have
even been infected if the CDC and USDA had started contact tracing
and testing dairy herds and had identified the infected herds early
in the epidemic.  All the CDC did was tell the workers to wear
protective gear when working with infected animals, but they refused
to identify all the farms with infected animals so that the workers
would know when they should wear protective gear.
Two California human cases have been confirmed by viral genomic
sequence to be the B3.13 dairy influenza H5N1 genotype.  For some
reason they do not state that the H5 sequences had 2 and 3 amino acid
substitutions in them that could affect H5 antibody binding, but they
do state the negative results that no amino acid changes in the H5
gene were those that would make the virus more infective in humans
(They are looking for 2 substitutions that facilitate binding to the
most common human viral receptors) and they claim that the virus do
not have the mutations that would make them more resistant to anti
viral drugs.  In terms of their strategy to wait until the virus
starts the next pandemic by evolving to be transmitted between humans
the fact that their vaccine strategy will likely not work due to the
H5 mutations in the latest human patients is not stated by them.
It is just a fact that the more dairy workers infected the more
chance of the virus mutating and being selected to be more infective
in a human host.  Instead of attempt to prevent that from happening
the CDC decided to "monitor" the situation and wait for the virus to
start being transmitted in the human population before trying to do
something about it.  They stock piled H5 influenza vaccine, but the
latest human infections had mutations in the H5 gene that likely make
that vaccine pretty much worthless.  The CDC has admitted that the
Missouri mutations reduced neutralizing ability of the available H5
antibodies and that they need to create a synthetic H5 genes with the
Missouri mutations in it in order to test for dairy influenza
antibodies in the Missouri patient contacts that showed symptoms.
Everyone is still waiting for those results that would verify human
to human transmission if any of the contacts are positive.
The CDC just can't seem to admit that they have been wrong, and they
are unwilling to do what California has been doing in tracing
contacts and testing dairy herds.  California wasn't even testing the
workers, they were just assuming that they could transmit the virus,
and identified more infected herds than anyone else in such a short
period of time, and in testing workers that showed symptoms they
found virus positive workers that were obviously shedding virus.  The
USDA and CDC have known for a very long time that it was likely
infected dairy workers that took the virus to poultry farms.  Both
Texas and Michigan determined that dairy workers at infected farms
worked at more than one dairy, and some of them also worked on
poultry farms (around 8% of the dairy workers at known infected farms
also worked on poultry farms).  They knew that the virus only was
infective off of clothing or skin for less than 30 minutes.  They
tried to claim that equipment may have been transferred from a dairy
to the infected poultry farm in Texas because they knew that it would
not have been the humans that took the fictional equipment (no
equipment was ever verified to have been transferred).  They also
knew that the infected states that had not gotten infected cattle
likely did get migrant farm workers from infected states.  It wasn't
rocket science, but they refused to start testing dairy workers, and
perform contact tracing that would have proven them wrong.
TO has seen this same refusal to face reality among the IDiots and
other creationists posters before them.  Not including the data about
the H5 gene mutations that would affect vaccine efficacy is a common
creationist tactic seen on TO.
Ron Okimoto

The "lie of omission" seems to have been adopted by the CDC.  In the
"Recommendations" section they continue to claim that Pastuerization
kills avian influenza, but do not cite their own recent research
indicating that influenza survives and is infectious after the most
common pasteurization method (72 degrees C for 15 to 20 seconds).  The
63 degree C method for 30 minutes decreased viable virus to below
detection levels, but the 72 degree method did not.  The CDC research
published in their November 2024 news letter indicates that the FDA
claims that the milk supply is safe is questionable, but the CDC is
not acting on their own findings.
https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/30/11/24-0772_article
This research data is publicly available now, and the CDC has likely
known about it for months.  In light of the possible gut infection of
the Missouri patient the CDC seems to be willfully not acknowledging
their own research results.  Avian influenza infects the guts of
birds, and the dairy influenza has infected the guts of some of the
cattle (some with debilitating gut infections).  It has been known
from the beginning that the farm cats were infected by drinking raw milk.
Ron Okimoto

The USDA updated their site to claim 4 more infected herds in California
making the total, at least, 128.  It may be that California has had
infected herds for some time before they were first reported at the end
of August.  It would take a lot of infected workers taking the virus to
this many herds in such a short period of time.  The workers or infected
cattle would have to take the virus to a new herd, that herd would need
time to infect enough cattle for more workers to be infected so that
they could take the virus to more farms.  There are likely more farms
that have been submitted for verification, and California wants to start
testing farms in counties that have not yet claimed to have infected
herds.  The claim is that there are "more than 1,100 dairy farms in
California with over 1.7 million dairy cattle.  The farm with 2 verified
infected workers had over 5,000 cows on the farm.  More than 10% of the
dairy farms in California have already been confirmed to have been
infected with the dairy influenza.
https://www.aphis.usda.gov/livestock-poultry-disease/avian/avian-
influenza/hpai-detections/hpai-confirmed-cases-livestock
The additional herds are claimed to have been confirmed Sat. Oct 19th,
but the update just showed up on the web.
It could be that dairy worker close contacts could also be tramsmitting
the virus to other herds if this many herds have been infected in such a
short period of time.  The first half dozen farms to be detected were
hoped to have contained the infection because they shared workers and
equipment, but those farms may not have been the first to be infected.
Additional contact tracing has led to over a hundred farms to be
identified as being infected.  Infection rate of dairy workers would
have to be much higher than the CDC has been claiming as "sporadic" to
infect this many herds.  Even after the testing of dairy workers with
symptoms started the CDC only increased the number of workers tested to
more than 260 from more than 250 when they had confirmed 13 more worker
infections.  That likely means that just about everyone of the workers
California has tested was positive.  They have only claimed to test
workers with symptoms.  Asymptomatic workers have gone untested.
Ron Okimoto

https://www.cdfa.ca.gov/AHFSS/Animal_Health/HPAI.html

California is claiming that the USDA has confirmed 133 infected dairy
herds in California as of Oct 22nd. This is more than they had up on
the USDA web site.

California is claiming that they are implementing a "surveillance
strategy" but they do not state what the strategy is. Previously they
had been contact tracing, and were claiming that they were going to
start testing dairies in counties that had not claimed infected herds,
so they may be instituting bulk milk testing of dairies to screen for
infected herds. The California department of agriculture is claiming
that they want to detect affected farms as early as possible. This is
something that the USDA should have implemented from the beginning, but
the USDA decided to rely on self reporting that has, obviously, not worked.

Ron Okimoto