Re: California dairy influenza infects 170 herds?

On 10/28/2024 9:47 AM, RonO wrote:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-10-28/bird-flu-cases-in- dairy-cows-roil-farmers-in-california
 This Bloomberg article cites a dramatic increase in the number of dairy herds infected in California, but the normal internet sources do not back up this number at this time.  The claim of 170 infected herds is much higher than the USDA claim last Friday of 137.
 The Bloomberg article notes that this is 40% of all infected herds confirmed in the US at this time, but they do not note that this is because no other state began contact tracing in order to identify the infected herds.  It is likely that the majority of infected herds in all the other states were never identified because no one wanted to determine that they were infected.  Contact tracing was never implimented anywhere else, and that is still the case.  The increased efforts to assist contact tracing to identify infected herds undertaken by the USDA applies only to California at this time.
 The California contact tracing is likely responsible for the identification of two more herds in Idaho last week.  These herds were likely not identified by the current means that Idaho is employing because they are relying on self reporting, hadn't self reported an infected herd for over a month, and California had tracked contact back to Idaho.
 Ron Okimoto

The mortality is associated with dehydration that they are treating with electrolytes.  This indicates that it is the gut infection symptoms that seem to be the most deleterious to the cattle.  Previous research found SA α2,3-gal influenza receptors expressed in the lung, mammary gland and cerebrum of cattle, but they did not look at the gut.  Early on the gut was known to be infected because one of the most debilitating symptoms in dairy cattle was when the gut shut down and nutrient absorption was impaired.  The feces would get loose and watery.  Apparently the California dairy cows are losing too much water.  Diarrhea was one of the symptoms of the Missouri patient.
Ron Okimoto