Gov. Walz touts "unified front" in Minnesota's bird flu fight
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz says there is a "unified front" in the state's fight against bird flu, which was recently detected in a Stearns County dairy herd.
Walz is seeking $4 million from the state budget to go to response efforts, while the University of Minnesota announced it has received a $1.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to fight H5N1.
"It's a tough time to be in agriculture right now, it's tough in Minnesota. We've gone from droughts to floods, we have avian influenza, we have trade uncertainties play a role in this," Walz said. "Our producers know, and the people of Minnesota know, there is a unified front around biosecurity and protection of our agricultural business and the health of Minnesotans. That is still very strong, and so I'm grateful for that."
Thom Petersen, the state's agriculture commissioner, assures Minnesotans pasteurized milk is safe to drink.
"The USDA and the FDA have been testing that in a routine surveillance has not found any danger to the public in pasteurized milk," Petersen said. "We have tested almost 1,500 dairy farms in the last three weeks, and we've had the one positive sample, and we'll continue testing those."
Petersen highlighted how Minnesota is the country's top turkey producer and in the top 10 in dairy production — with both industries typically linked in the state proximity-wise.
"Our issue is where a lot of our dairy cows are, a lot of our poultry is," Petersen said." "We're on higher alert right now as we watch what's happened in California, for example, where they've had over 700 of their 900-plus dairy farms have gotten H5N1 in their dairy herds."
Malia Ireland, senior infectious disease epidemiologist with the Minnesota Department of Health, says while H5N1 was detected at two wastewater facilities this spring, she doesn't believe the virus is currently in the state's human population.
"Both of those were actually followed up by negative tests a few days or a week later," Ireland said. "So what we think that those likely indicate is contamination of the wastewater before it gets cleaned and when it's sampled by, by wild bird migration."
State Veterinarian Dr. Brian Hoefs says the virus' discovery in dairy cattle last year "was a shock to us."
"We're worried about this on all levels. That doesn't mean the general public is at risk. It means that we are, we are keeping a very close eye on this and making sure that we're doing what we can to eliminate the possibility of this transferring and mutating that much more," Hoefs said.
He says depopulation of the state's infected poultry is necessary because the virus is "nearly 100% fatal."
"It's a very devastating, kind of cruel way to allow animals to die, so the depopulation is twofold. It's a humane response, but it's also to eliminate the pool of virus that's on the landscape," Hoefs said.
Stearns County dairy herd quarantined
A sample of pre-pasteurized milk from the Stearns County herd was sent to the state's Department of Agriculture as part of the recently launched milk surveillance plan.
The sample tested positive for the flu, marking the first case detected since the plan started, and the state's first reported case since June 2024.
The herd is currently quarantined, according to the state's Board of Animal Health, which says the virus has less of an impact on cows than it has on poultry. The symptoms are also hard to spot in cows, with milk production loss being the most obvious sign.
Minnesota's agriculture department, which says it tests milk from the state's more than 1,600 dairy farms every month, stresses there is no threat to the public milk supply since milk sold commercially is pasteurized.
Dairy farms with infected herds are also required to discard its milk supplies.
The Minnesota Department of Health says the flu currently poses a low risk to the public.
Grant to fund University of Minnesota's flu-fighting projects
The U of M's USDA grant will go to its College of Veterinary Medicine for work on nine cooperative projects to learn more about how highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) is transmitted to dairy herds, and how to mitigate its impact on public health and food security.
College officials say a new flu variant was first detected in poultry in the U.S. in 2022, and was confirmed in dairy herds last year.
It has also been detected in wild birds and several mammal species, with 68 confirmed human cases to date, one of which was fatal.
"Minnesota is unique in having multiple really strong livestock and poultry industries, including turkey, swine, and dairy — and HPAI affects all of them," said U veterinary medicine professor Scott Wells. "The University of Minnesota is well-positioned to help address this challenge, with cutting-edge diagnostic capacities and experts working across industries to look at influenza from many different angles."
NOTE: The original airdate of the video attached to this article is March 24, 2025.
