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HPAI dairy cattle research lasers in on transmission points

A Michigan State University researcher says work continues to identify how highly pathogenic avian influenza transmission occurs in dairy cattle.

Large animal veterinarian Dr. Zelmar Rodriguez in the College of Veterinary Medicine tells Brownfield, “The road that we know is playing a huge role is a cow-to-cow transmission, that plays within a herd, but also farm to farm.”

He says farms can be reinfected and it’s unknown how long antibody protection lasts considering the potential for the virus to mutate.

“We’re trying to know how long cows are naturally protected with antibodies,” he shares. “We are still working on the long-term impact beyond the current lactation. This is a very frequent question we have by producers, what happened with these cows in the following lactation?”

Rodriguez says the virus can be shed by an animal for up to about 40 days and costs farmers at least $140 per cow in lost production, which can be more than $70,000 for a 500-cow herd.

Brownfield interviewed Rodriguez as part of the recent Great Lakes Regional Dairy Conference where researchers discussed what has been learned about HPAI dairy outbreaks over the past year.