Public health officials are concerned about the bird flu, which has so far been identified in three dairy farms — two in Michigan and one in Texas — and in cattle in a dozen states, including Idaho.
The farmworkers’ symptoms were mild, and researchers have not found that the H5N1 virus, also known as bird flu, can spread from person to person. The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says there is little risk to the general public. But flu viruses evolve, and H5N1 could mutate and gain the ability to infect humans more easily.
“The reason public health authorities are and should be on high alert is because this is a potentially serious pathogen,” said Meghan Davis, an epidemiologist and microbiologist at Johns Hopkins University.
That’s why government officials are so focused on testing and monitoring dairy workers. But they face significant challenges.
H5N1 is deadly to poultry and can wipe out entire flocks in days, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. As a result, the poultry industry has responded vigorously to the threat, culling entire flocks if they find even a single infected bird. But H5N1 is milder in cows, and the response on dairy farms has been less aggressive.
The CDC and USDA have advised dairy farms to test livestock and people for the virus, but testing remains voluntary except for herds that move across state lines.
Additionally, dairy farms are often located in remote rural areas, and workers have little access to transportation and no sick leave. As a result, it is difficult for them to travel to health care providers for testing and treatment. Many dairy farmers, who are often immigrants, speak indigenous languages such as Nahuatl or K’iche’, according to the National Center for Farmworker Health, a nonprofit that provides support and training to centers focused on farmworker health.
Four states begin voluntary bird flu testing in dairy farm milk tanks
Studying bird flu before it becomes a threat to humans
Dr. Amesh Adalja, an infectious disease physician and scientist at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, stressed that the current bird flu strain does not pose a pandemic threat to humans. Therefore, he said, this is the perfect time to put appropriate testing and surveillance measures in place.
“If you can’t get it right with something as forgiving as this virus, in terms of its inefficiency in infecting people, that doesn’t bode well for the future when the stakes are higher,” Adalja said.
So far, cases of the virus have been documented in cattle in Colorado, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, South Dakota, Texas and Wyoming, according to the USDA. Last week, federal officials announced grants to farms to offset the cost of milk losses from sick cows. Four states — Kansas, Nebraska, New Mexico and Texas — are launching voluntary pilot programs to test for the virus in dairy farms’ bulk milk tanks.
In Michigan, where the virus has been found in 25 herds, Department of Agriculture and Rural Development Director Tim Boring said efforts are focused on trying to help farmers compensate for losses and agree to testing. Last month, the agency announced it would use a combination of federal and state funds to give up to $28,000 to up to 20 affected farms.
The state has also launched an investigation to find out if antibodies are present in people who have been in contact with sick cows. The aim is to determine if there have been asymptomatic infections.
Dr. Natasha Bagdasarian, Michigan’s chief medical officer, said the state is working with local health centers and health departments to reach farmworkers.
“Not only do they know the farms in their province, but they also know a lot of the farm worker organizations,” she said.
Dairy farm workers, who are often immigrants, cannot afford to miss a day of work and are often reluctant to seek a test or say they feel sick, advocates say.
“This is a population that is just vastly underserved in terms of both outreach and trust that’s built with state and federal agencies,” said Elizabeth Strater, director of strategic campaigns for United Farm Workers, a labor union. “This is a group of workers who are some of the poorest workers in the United States.”
On-site testing at dairies is crucial to protect farm workers, experts say
According to the National Milk Producers Federation, immigrants account for 51 percent of the daily labor on dairy farms. In addition, farms where immigrants work produce 79 percent of the country’s milk.
Amy Liebman of the Migrant Clinicians Network, an education and advocacy group of migrant health experts, says testing should be done on farms rather than in clinics.
“Dairies are in rural areas, very isolated geographically. You can’t get all these workers in one place to do research or testing. It’s a matter of really trying to go to where the workers are,” she said.
But getting farm owners to agree to the offer hasn’t been easy. The Texas Department of Health told Stateline that it has offered on-site testing to farmers, but as of mid-June, it had tested only about 20 symptomatic dairy workers who had volunteered for testing. It has also given personal protective equipment to “interested dairies” and posted a notice online offering to provide the equipment.
This is a group of workers who are among the poorest workers in the United States.
– Elizabeth Strater, Director of Strategic Campaigns, United Farm Workers
Coordination between state or local agriculture and health departments is essential for tracking viral spread. Lack of coordination and monitoring can contribute to underreporting of cases.
“I think it’s definitely more widespread than is currently being reported,” said Dr. Shira Doron, chief infection control officer at Tufts Medicine. “The barriers between agencies are really hampering our efforts right now.”
The CDC has offered a $75 payment to any farmworker who agrees to be tested and provides blood and nasal swab samples to the agency. But Doris Garcia-Ruiz, who directs farmworker outreach at Texas Rio Grande Legal Aid, said that doesn’t make up for the days of lost income.
“If they take time off to go to the doctor, they don’t have sick leave and therefore don’t get paid,” she said.
The latest figures from the CDC show that at least 53 people have been tested in the cattle outbreak, most of them in Michigan. Strater says that’s not enough.
“That’s horrible,” she said. “Our testing is so passive. They rely on employees to come to medical clinics; these are employees who are not going to seek medical treatment unless they have something that is life-threatening.”
Getting workers to wear personal protective equipment is also a challenge. The CDC advises workers to wear respirators, waterproof aprons and coveralls, unvented safety glasses or a face shield, and rubber boots with sealed seams that can be decontaminated. It also advises workers to follow a specific set of steps to remove PPE at the end of a shift to prevent contamination.
“Dairy work is very wet, very hands-on,” said Christine Sauvé, who leads community engagement at the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center. “While some industries are very familiar with PPE … the CDC’s full recommendation is new and different. And that really requires full advocacy from the employer, and then also from the state agencies.”
Sauvé worries that Michigan’s response is prioritizing farmers’ losses over the health of farmworkers. While the risk to the public is low, she and other experts say the farmworker population should not be forgotten.
Bethany Alcauter of the National Center for Farmworker Health described the threat of bird flu as “a ticking time bomb.”
“Maybe it’s not completely done yet. But if we don’t do it right, it could happen,” Alcauter said.
Stateline, like the Idaho Capital Sun, is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Stateline maintains editorial independence. For questions, please contact Editor Scott S. Greenberger: (e-mail address)Follow Stateline on Facebook and X.
