Cases of highly pathogenic avian flu cases in Colorado dairy cows keep rising, with numbers from a federal website recording the state as having more cases than any other.
A top state health official said Tuesday the state is working with dairy farms and the industry as they continue to work to limit the spread. The state reported its first case in dairy cows in April. Since then, Colorado has recorded another 26 cases. The state reported 22 in June, adding 17 cases in the last two weeks, including a new case July 1 to a state website tracking positive cases in dairy cows. The site shows nearly two dozen cases under quarantine.
For the first four cases that the state identified in April and May, the status is listed as “quarantine released.”
All confirmed cases have been in northeast Colorado. About a quarter of the state’s dairies have confirmed cases. (Colorado has 105 licensed dairy facilities, 27 of which have been affected by the avian flu outbreak as of Tuesday, according to the state health department.)
Colorado is now reporting more cases than any other state, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture website, with 21 livestock herds affected during the last 30 days. Iowa recorded a dozen herds affected, while Idaho had 10.
Wyoming, Texas, Minnesota and Michigan all had confirmed cases in the single digits on the site, which contains data from the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. The site was last updated June 27.