The supreme objective of the USDA is to get rid of livestock as a tank. When the Agency revealed it was preparing for this program, it kept in mind that there were 2 prospect vaccines in trials. Till those are confirmed, it prepares to utilize the basic playbook for dealing with emerging infections: contact tracing and seclusion. And it has the capability to force livestock and their owners to be more cooperative than the human population ended up being.

The five-step strategy

The USDA describes seclusion and contact tracing as Stage 3 of a five-stage prepare for managing H5N1 in livestock, with the 2 earlier phases being the obligatory tasting and screening, implied to be managed on a state-by-state basis. Following the effective containment of the infection in a state, the USDA will carry on to batch tasting to make sure each state stays virus-free. This is necessary, considered that we do not have a clear image of the number of times the infection has actually leapt from its regular tank in birds into the livestock population.

That makes it possible that reaching Stage 5, which the USDA terms “Demonstrating Freedom from H5 in US Dairy Cattle,” will end up being difficult. Dairy livestock are most likely to have everyday contact with birds, and it might be that the infection will be routinely reintroduced into the population, leaving containment as the only alternative till the vaccines are prepared.

Evaluating will at first focus mainly on states where cattle-to-human transmission is understood to have actually taken place or the infection is understood to be present: California, Colorado, Michigan, Mississippi, Oregon, and Pennsylvania. If you want to track the development of the USDA’s efforts, it will be publishing weekly updates.