The virus has so far caused little illness in humans, but it has spread rapidly and with devastating effects among birds, marine mammals and other species.
U.S. health officials have repeatedly assured the public that H5N1 avian influenza poses little risk to public health, but some experts have become increasingly critical of the government for not aggressively monitoring the spread of the virus among cows and other livestock. The virus has been reported on 145 dairy farms in 12 states, but critics say that’s probably an underestimate.
They cite anecdotes from doctors and veterinarians in rural areas about mysterious illnesses and cover-ups, as well as instances when the mysterious H5N1 virus was “detected” in municipal sewage far from infected dairy herds.
“I don’t think government officials have done the thorough research they should have,” said Rick Bright, a virologist and former administrator of the U.S. Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority. “I think they’ve consistently downplayed this outbreak and this virus.”
Some experts worry that H5N1-infected livestock could become a “mixing vessel” for new strains of the virus that could more easily infect humans. A study published this week The virus has been shown to have receptors in both birds and humans, and, as they point out: Up to 75% of human infectious diseases It is derived from pathogens of animal origin.
Now, in the midst of this heated debate over virus surveillance, a raw-milk dairy farmer and longtime critic of the Food and Drug Administration has accused the government of ignoring his information in early May about a suspected outbreak of the H5N1 virus among dairy herds.
After milking, the cows leave the dairy barn.
(Thomas Ovalle/The Times)
It’s unclear whether any infections occurred, but neither federal nor state officials investigated the case for several weeks. The FDA noted that raw milk isn’t allowed to be sold across state lines; in states that do, such as New Mexico and California, regulation is up to state officials. New Mexico officials looked at the report for the first time after receiving an inquiry from The Times. State officials said herd veterinarians found no symptoms of H5N1 avian influenza.
Some experts say the delayed response reflects a gross lack of oversight by government officials.
“Once everyone decided that this disease wasn’t going to kill people and that pasteurized milk and livestock could get through it, I think all that was left was temporary measures like voluntary reporting, voluntary testing, testing when crossing state lines. That doesn’t seem like a serious effort to eliminate this disease at all,” said Michael Payne, a research scientist and outreach coordinator at the Western Institute for Food Safety and Security at the University of California, Davis.
Claims of infection spreading Mark McAfee, Law Firm Owneris a raw-milk dairy farm with herds in Fresno and Hanford. On June 17, McAfee, who also serves as president of the advocacy group Raw Milk Association, emailed FDA Acting Commissioner Donald Prater to say he had heard that the raw-milk dairy farm’s herd was infected and that people were likely consuming contaminated milk.
According to McAfee’s emails obtained by The New York Times, some of a farmer’s cows were suffering from yellowish diarrhea, reduced milk production, thick yellowish colostrum and general weakness. The farmer told McAfee that he had quarantined the sick cows (about 10% of the herd) and stopped milking them.
Mark McAfee walks past the cows feeding on his raw milk dairy farm.
(Thomas Ovalle/The Times)
“The farmer advised that he was certain that humans had consumed some amount of raw milk,” McAfee wrote to Plater, adding that the farm’s veterinarian “instructed the farmer not to report anything to anyone” because “the virus will go away and he did not want the FDA to suddenly step in and create a media frenzy.”
McAfee said he receives many questions and calls from milk farmers across the country. As president and founder of the Milk Association and the largest milk producer in the country, small dairy farmers often seek his advice and guidance.
Within 90 minutes of sending the email, Prater responded by thanking McAfee for taking the time to write the memo and for “sharing these perspectives,” adding that he and his agency “will take note of the points you make and will get back to you if we have any questions.”
The FDA did not follow up, according to McAfee, who said the state of New Mexico, where the cattle herd was infected, only learned of the information last week after The Times inquired about it.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention declined to comment publicly on the matter, referring questions to state governments.
Critics say the lack of an immediate or timely response, with or without an outbreak, highlights a lack of urgency and leadership in the face of a potential health threat.
“If you turn your back on this virus, you’re inviting it to bite you in the ass,” said Bill Hanage, an associate professor of epidemiology and co-director of the Center for Infectious Disease Dynamics at the Harvard School of Public Health.
Bright, the virologist, said the delay was problematic.
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1. Carlos Rodriguez squeezes a cow’s teats to check the quality of the milk coming out. 2. Álvaro Hernández hangs the milking clusters high after milking the cows to prevent contamination. 3. Mark McAfee checks the bacteria levels in his raw milk every day and has spent more than $300,000 on testing. (Thomas Ovalle/The Times)
“This is what drives me crazy,” Bright said. “I tell people all the time: It’s not necessarily the data that’s in front of us that’s most worrying. It’s what’s being hidden from us that’s most worrying.”
He said it’s difficult to know for sure whether an infection has occurred until weeks after an outbreak because dairy farmers aren’t required to let government officials test their cows. If farmers give their permission, researchers can test for H5N1 antibodies in the blood.
“I don’t think they really want to know,” he said of the U.S. government, and specifically the FDA.
The FDA disputes that claim: A spokesman said the agency is in contact with the New Mexico Department of Agriculture, which is investigating, but has not been able to substantiate the claim that raw milk from the infected herd was sold to the public.
And indeed, the FDA and McAfee Raw Milk Institute A long and contentious history.
“Frankly, your source, the Raw Milk Association, has been known to repeatedly emphasize that there is no evidence that drinking raw milk containing the H5N1 virus is harmful to you,” said FDA spokesperson Janelle Goodwin.
of FDA’s Position Pasteurization makes the U.S. milk supply safe. Other Government Agencies Recommend not drinking raw milk.
Meanwhile, McAfee said he reported the outbreak because he thought it showed that unpasteurized but contaminated raw milk was not a threat.
“Nobody got sick from this outbreak,” he insisted.
Mark McAfee, a raw-milk dairy farmer and longtime critic of the FDA, accused the agency of ignoring his information that the H5N1 virus may be circulating among dairy cows.
(Thomas Ovalle/The Times)
But epidemiologists the Times spoke to expressed skepticism, suggesting that perhaps no one “reported” getting sick, and noting that many dairy workers are immigrants who might not appreciate a government visit. They also pointed to experimental and observational studies of barn cats that ingested H5N1-contaminated raw milk, which “had about a 50 percent mortality rate and very unpleasant symptoms,” said Harvard’s Hanage.
Drinking raw milk “is a risk that we simply don’t want people to take for their own benefit,” he said.
McAfee said the company received a letter of good standing from the California Department of Food and Agriculture for voluntarily testing its milk for the H5N1 virus, and a department spokesman confirmed that no virus had been detected in the farm’s milk as of July 1.
