Three veterinarians working with dairy cows were unknowingly infected with Avian Flu (bird flu). All three vets worked with dairy herds that did not shows signs of bird flu. One of the veterinarians worked in states with no reported outbreaks. These findings support previous evidence that suggests the virus is spreading more widely than the official numbers show.
To help curb the virus’s spread, experts recommend testing of farm workers and veterinarians even when they aren’t showing symptoms as well as expanded testing of the country’s milk supply. “The states that haven’t onboarded bulk milk testing should do that, just not assume that because they haven’t had infected herds reported that they have a little bit of leeway”, said Dr. Nahid Bhadelia, director of the Boston University Center on Emerging Infectious Diseases.
