So far, the virus has caused only minimal illness in humans, but has spread rapidly among birds, marine mammals and other species with devastating effects.
Although U.S. health officials have repeatedly assured Americans that H5N1 bird flu poses little risk to their well-being, some experts have become increasingly critical of what they see as the government’s failure to aggressively monitor the spread of the virus among cattle and other farm animals. The virus has been reported in 145 dairy herds in 12 states, but critics say that is likely an underestimate.
They mention stories they have heard from doctors and veterinarians in farming communities about mysterious illnesses and cover-ups, and point to puzzling “results” of H5N1 in municipal wastewater far from any infected dairy herds.
“I think our government officials are not doing the thorough investigation that they should be,” said Rick Bright, a virologist and former director of the U.S. Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority. “I think they are continually downplaying this outbreak and this virus.”
Some experts fear that farm animals infected with the H5N1 virus could serve as “mixing vessels” for new viral strains that could more easily infect people. They point to research published this week showing that the virus has receptors for both birds and humans. And they note that up to 75% of human infectious diseases stem from pathogens that originated in animals.
Now, amid this heated debate over viral monitoring, a raw milk producer and longtime critic of the Food and Drug Administration has accused the government of ignoring his information about a suspected H5N1 outbreak among a herd of dairy cows in early May.
Cows leave a dairy barn after milking.
(Tomás Ovalle / For The Times)
While it is unclear whether an outbreak actually occurred, neither federal nor state officials investigated the matter for weeks. The FDA noted that raw milk is not permitted to be sold across state lines. In states that allow it, including New Mexico and California, regulation falls to state agencies. New Mexico officials only investigated the report after inquiries by The Times. The state said the herd’s veterinarian found no symptoms of H5N1 bird flu.
The delayed response, some experts say, suggests a troubling lack of oversight by government officials.
“I think once everyone decided it wasn't going to kill people and that pasteurized milk and herds could outcompete it, then all that was left was to take these stopgap measures — voluntary reporting, voluntary testing, testing across state lines — that don't look anything like a really serious effort to go ahead and eradicate it,” said Michael Payne, a researcher and outreach coordinator for the Western Institute for Food Safety and Protection at UC Davis.
The outbreak came from Mark McAfee, owner of Raw Farms, a raw milk production company with herds in Fresno and Hanford. On June 17, McAfee — who is also president of the Raw Milk Institute, an animal rights group — emailed acting FDA Commissioner Donald Prater to say he had been told a herd of raw milk dairy cows had been infected and that people had likely consumed the contaminated milk.
According to McAfee’s email, which was shared with The Times, a subset of one farmer’s cows were suffering from yellowish, watery diarrhea; low milk production; thick, yellowish colostrum; and general weakness. The farmer told McAfee that he had culled out the sick cows — about 10% of his herd — and stopped milking them.
Mark McAfee walks alongside cows being fed raw milk at his dairy.
(Tomás Ovalle / For The Times)
“The farmer reported that humans had certainly consumed the raw milk at some level,” McAfee wrote to Prater, adding that the farmer’s veterinarian “told the farmer not to report anything to anyone” because the virus would pass and “he didn’t want the FDA to intervene and cause a media frenzy.”
McAfee said he gets a lot of questions and calls from raw milk producers across the country. As the president and founder of the Raw Milk Institute (and the largest raw milk producer in the country), small dairy producers often seek out his advice and counsel.
Within 90 minutes of sending the email, Prater responded that he appreciated McAfee taking the time to write the note and “for sharing these perspectives.” He then added that he and his agency would “take note of the points you raised and respond to you if we have any questions.”
According to McAfee, the FDA did not follow up. The state of New Mexico, where McAfee says the herd was infected, only learned of the information last week, after the Times asked.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention declined to comment officially on the matter, referring questions to the state.
Critics say that whether or not the outbreak occurred, the lack of an immediate, or even timely, response underscores the absence of urgency and leadership in the face of a potential health threat.
“If we turn our backs on this virus, we’re kind of inviting it to bite us in the butt,” said Bill Hanage, an associate professor of epidemiology and co-director of the Center for Communicable Disease Dynamics at Harvard University’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
Bright, the virologist, said the delay was a problem.
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1. Carlos Rodríguez squeezes a cow's teat to check the quality of the milk coming out of it. 2. Alvaro Hernandez hangs a milking group high to avoid contamination after milking a cow. 3. Mark McAfee monitors the bacteria levels in his raw milk every day and spends more than $300,000 on testing. (Tomás Ovalle / For The Times)
“This is what drives me crazy,” Bright said. “I always tell people that what is most worrying is not necessarily the data that we have in front of us, but what is being hidden from us.”
Dairy farmers are not required to allow government officials to test their cattle, he said, making it difficult to verify weeks later whether an outbreak has occurred. If a dairy farmer were to allow testing, investigators could check for antibodies to the H5N1 virus in the blood.
“I really don't think they want to know,” he said of the U.S. government and the FDA in particular.
The FDA denies this. A spokeswoman said the agency has been in contact with the New Mexico Department of Agriculture, which is investigating, and has been unable to corroborate the claim that raw milk from an infected herd was sold to the public.
And to be sure, the FDA and McAfee's Raw Milk Institute have a long and controversial history.
“To be honest, their source, the Raw Milk Institute, is known for repeatedly defending what they say is a lack of evidence that drinking raw milk containing H5N1 is bad for you,” said Janell Goodwin, a spokeswoman for the FDA.
The FDA's position is that pasteurization makes the U.S. milk supply safe. The FDA and other government agencies recommend that people not drink raw milk.
McAfee, on the other hand, said he reported the outbreak because he believed it showed that raw, unpasteurized milk, while infected, was not a threat.
“No one got sick from that outbreak,” he insisted.
Mark McAfee, a raw milk producer and longtime FDA critic, has accused officials of ignoring his information about a possible H5N1 outbreak among dairy cows.
(Tomás Ovalle / For The Times)
But epidemiologists at The Times were skeptical, suggesting that perhaps no one had “called in” sick, and noting that many dairy workers are immigrants who may not enjoy a government visit. And they pointed to experimental and observational studies of farm cats that consumed raw milk contaminated with H5N1 and “had a mortality rate of about 50 percent and really unpleasant symptoms,” said Hanage, the Harvard professor.
Drinking raw milk is “something that is a risk that we would prefer people not take just for its own sake,” he said.
McAfee said he received a certificate of good standing from the California Department of Food and Agriculture for voluntarily testing his cows' milk for the H5N1 virus. An agency spokesman confirmed that as of July 1, the farm's milk was free of the virus.
