The current strain of avian influenza was first detected in Utah in 2022. Amanda Price, state veterinarian with the Utah Department of Agriculture and Food, said the virus has now been found in dairy cattle.
“The cows would suddenly stop producing milk. They weren't feeling very good. The vet saw there were dead birds on the dairies, and they said, this might be bird flu. … And it turns out that's what it was,” Price said.
When the dairy stain of avian influenza was detected in an egg layer farm in Cache County, Price said, Utah decided to test all the dairy farms in the area. They found that 13 dairies were infected.
“But as of early January, we had released the last of them from quarantine,” Price said.
While the health risk to humans is low, there is a chance that the virus could be transmitted through unpasteurized milk. Prateek Sharma, director of the Western Dairy Center, said pasteurization is a key step in dairy processing.
“So pasteurization is a combination of time and temperature. Now when you talk about influenza, or any viral infection to the milk, then usually viruses are heat sensitive,” Sharma said.
In addition to viruses, raw (unpasteurized) milk can contain dangerous bacteria like salmonella, listeria, and tuberculosis.
“I would not advise people to drink just the raw milk, because if there's even 0.01% chance of getting sick, you want to avoid that chance,” Sharma said.
While Utah’s dairies are currently free of avian flu, Price said there’s a chance it could return.
“They've looked at cows that have been infected before, and they don't seem to have antibodies to the virus, and so that suggests to us that if the virus did come back through, that they could be reinfected with it,” Price said.
To stay up to date on the status of avian influenza in Utah, visit birdflu.utah.gov.
