CDC wants to research avian bird flu on dairy farms, but many state officials and farmers don't want their help

Dairy farmers want to avoid being labeled an 'avian flu
hotspot.' (Adobe Stock photo)

Dairy farmers don't want Centers for Disease Control and Prevention researchers on their farms even if they're tracking down avian flu. While the dairy industry's opposition to CDC intervention makes it harder for investigators to understand how long and far H5N1 has traveled within dairy herds and work to contain it, farmers and some agriculture officials are claiming federal government overreach, report Meredith Lee Hill, David Lim and Marcia Brown of Politico.

Texas is one state where CDC investigators have not been invited to research because its health department can't find any farms to host them. Politico reports, "The resistance of dairy farmers is emblematic of the trust gap between key agriculture players in red and blue states and federal health officials — one that public health experts fear could hamper the nation's ability to head off the virus' threat to humans."

When the federal government suggested deploying research teams onto dairy farms, state agricultural leaders deflected the need for in-person CDC visits. Hill, Lim and Brown explain, "Democratic, as well as Republican, state officials shared those reservations, including that state and local health officials should continue to lead the response on the ground. Some have also pressed for the Department of Agriculture and its animal health experts to have more say in the process."

Dairies don't want CDC researchers poking around because they don't want to be "identified as a virus hotspot," and they don't want their workers, who are often undocumented, to be scrutinized. Politico reports, "Given that reality, state agriculture officials have specifically pushed for any interviews with farmworkers to be voluntary and conducted off the farms at a different site."

While the CDC is working to find a middle ground where it can work directly with dairy farmers, some states are working on their own measurement tools. Politico reports: "Idaho is one of several states working on a shortened version of the CDC's lengthy questionnaire, with the goal of developing a uniform survey that can be administered nationally, said the state's epidemiologist, Dr. Christine Hahn."