The bird flu outbreak is causing some panic in the U.S. as the Department of Agriculture on Monday began testing samples of ground beef from grocery stores in states where dairy cows tested positive for the H5N1 virus. It comes after regulators from the Food and Drug Administration said samples of pasteurized milk had trace remnants of the virus, which has been detected in 34 dairy cattle herds throughout nine states since late March. One person in Texas tested positive and a dolphin in Florida is confirmed dead from bird flu.
This is the first time a bird flu virus has been detected in U.S. cattle. And while human risk remains low, there are a lot of questions about the scope of the spread.
“The risk to the general public is right now very low, according to the federal agencies,” said Dr. Amar Patil, New Jersey’s state veterinarian, in an interview with NJ Spotlight News. “There are no outbreaks of bird flu currently in New Jersey, either in poultry or cattle.”
