By O. Kay Henderson (Radio Iowa)

Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig says USDA scientists have collected data from Iowa and are working to understand how bird flu has moved to infect dairy cows as well as other animals.

“I ordered in an epidemiological strike team from USDA, appreciate they sent that team,” Naig says. “…(They) went farm-by-farm…really trying to understand how high path moves through a herd or possible ways it’s moving off the farm or onto the farm.”

No other state is doing testing of dairy operations within a 12 mile radius of any poultry flock that has to be euthanized after avian influenza is confirmed in the birds and Naig says some wildlife in those zones are being screened for bird flu as well.

“I think what we’re going to get when we get to the end of this maybe in weeks or even months is that we’re going to actually have specific strategies farmers can use to protect their operations,” Naig says, “but if you’re not testing, you can’t do that kind of work.”

It’s been a couple of weeks since bird flu has been confirmed in cattle or poultry in an Iowa operation. Since March, six farm workers in Texas, Michigan and Colorado have tested positive for bird flu. Employees at Iowa facilities where the virus has been confirmed among birds or cattle have been tested, but there have been no human cases of bird flu in Iowa.

“By the way, there’s no evidence of human-to-human spread, which is very good news for all of us,” Naig says, “and why is important that we manage these things as animal health issues, try to deal with them on the farm so they don’t become human health or food safety issues.”

Naig made his comments this weekend during an appearance on “Iowa Press” on Iowa PBS.