The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) today reported one more avian flu infection in a dairy worker and yesterday announced a widened recall of Raw Farm's raw (unpasteurized) milk products following more positive test results.
The latest illness in California puts the state's total at 32, all but 1 involving workers exposed at affected dairy farms. Confirmation by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention today lifts the national total this year to 58.
Multiple positives from retail milk and processing samples
In an announcement yesterday the CDPH said multiple positive results in recent days from Raw Farm's retail milk, its storage tanks, and its bottling facility have led to the widened recall of the company's raw milk and cream products.
Given multiple detections of avian flu at the company's facilities, the CDPH urged consumers to avoid all of the company's products for humans, which also include cheese and kefir, and to avoid giving the company's pet food products—which include pet food toppers and pet kefir—to animals.
Also, the California Department of Food and Agriculture has placed the farm under quarantine, which bars any new distribution of the company's raw milk, cream, kefir, butter, and cheese produced on or after November 27.
Warnings about risks to people and pets
So far no human illnesses linked to the dairy products have been reported, following two batches of Raw Farms milk that were pulled from store shelves after testing positive for avian flu. Officials said they are working with local and federal partners to investigate exposure and better understand how it might affect people.
Drinking or accidentally inhaling the milk may pose a risk of illness, and touching the eyes, nose, or mouth with unwashed hands after contact with raw milk contaminated with avian flu may also lead to infection, the CDPH said.
The agency also warned that animals have been known to get sick after drinking raw milk contaminated with avian flu, including cats in multiple states that died after drinking raw milk on affected dairy farms.
Affected cows top 700 as more cases in birds noted
In other developments, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) today confirmed 12 more outbreaks in dairy cattle, all on California farms. The confirmations push the state's total to 493 and the national total to 707 in 15 states.
Also, APHIS confirmed two more outbreaks in poultry in two states, both involving commercial farms. One is a broiler farm in California's Fresno County that has more than 237,000 birds, and the other is a broiler chicken breeding farm in Oklahoma's Adair County that houses nearly 52,000 birds.
In its wild-bird tracking, APHIS confirmed more than 50 more avian flu detections, with sampling dates in late October and November.
Many are waterfowl from western states, but there are a few from the Midwest and South. Many were waterfowl found dead or sampled after hunter harvesting. Several were from agency-harvested pigeons and sparrows in Cache County, Utah, where outbreaks in dairy cattle were reported in October.
