On the cusp of spring migration, Walz urges $4M bird flu defense

Gov. Tim Walz and state leaders on Wednesday urged new strategies to protect Minnesotans and agricultural producers from H5N1, an influenza strain that has spread rapidly in the U.S. among wild and domestic birds and dairy farms over the past three years.

The highly infectious bird flu variant was most recently found in turkey farms in Dakota and Wadena counties in January, and earlier this month in a dairy farm in Stearns County as a result of the state’s new milk surveillance program.

The prevalence of the virus is low statewide: 1,600 dairy farms were checked and only one tested positive. But state Agricultural Commissioner Thom Petersen said that is likely a short-term reprieve, as H5N1 bird flu could gain a foothold in the state this spring as migrating birds carry the virus north.

“We’re watching the migration very closely,” Petersen said. “I live on a river, and my anxiety level goes very high when I see the geese and the swans and everything that are returning at this time.”

H5N1 bird flu can pass from birds to cattle, to other animals or to humans, but there are no confirmed cases of human-to-human transmission. In December, researchers reported a genetic mutation could make the bovine form potentially transmissible among humans.

Walz said Wednesday he has bipartisan support from lawmakers for a $4 million budget proposal to replenish an emergency fund that provides personnel and equipment to prevent or contain H5N1 outbreaks among animals.

State leaders assured Minnesotans that the presence of H5N1 does not threaten the food supply.

“Routine surveillance has not found any danger to the public in pasteurized milk and properly cooked meat,” Petersen said.

However, officials urged farmers to remain vigilant, recalling how the spread of H5N1 in 2015 resulted in a billion-dollar loss for Minnesota’s turkey producers. The current outbreak has been far deadlier, with more than 9 million birds in Minnesota killed by the virus or culled to prevent its spread since 2022.

Securing barn doors is an important step to prevent wild birds from gaining access and infecting poultry flocks or beef herds, said Brian Hoefs, state veterinarian. Installing so-called “turkey lasers” also can deter infected wild birds.

H5N1 has already affected the economy. Minnesotans are lining up to buy chickens as pets, spurred by egg prices driven higher by the virus’ impact on the poultry population. The underlying concern is that the unabated spread of H5N1 could result in human cases and severe illnesses and deaths.

Nationwide surveillance has only confirmed 70 human cases of H5N1, including in one person who died. The cases have largely consisted of agricultural workers, including a poultry farm worker in Wisconsin and another one in Iowa, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

No human infections have been reported in Minnesota. Testing of wastewater samples found traces of the virus in Olmsted County in southeast Minnesota, where public health officials quarantined a small bird flock in January after discovering it had been infected.

However, health officials suspect wild birds polluted the wastewater before it was tested, and the virus did not come from human waste. Subsequent tests of the wastewater were negative.

“I don’t think it’s in the human population at this point,” said Malia Ireland, a senior infectious disease epidemiologist for the Minnesota Department of Health.

The possibility of human-to-human transmission exists if someone is infected with H5N1 and seasonal influenza at the same time and the virus mutates into a more transmissible form.

“This is influenza, which is notorious for a drift and shift in the genome,” said Scott Wells, a professor in the College of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Minnesota who is leading research on how H5N1 spreads among cattle.

Minnesota’s last influenza pandemic occurred in 2009, when an H1N1 flu variant (dubbed “swine flu”) spread in Mexico and Central America and made its way north in spring travelers. The variant proved more severe than seasonal flu strains, sending five times more infected Minnesotans into hospitals and causing at least 63 deaths — including 29 children and teenagers.

H1N1 proved disruptive, prompting the temporary closure of Rocori Middle School in spring 2009 after the state’s first case was identified in someone with ties to the school. The Minnesota State Fair also had to send 100 4-H teenagers home after the virus spread in a dormitory on the fairgrounds.

Wells’ team at the U is asking dairy farms with positive tests to voluntarily take part in studies to better understand and eventually control H5N1. The U received a $1.5 million federal agriculture grant to study the virus.

“We need to learn a whole lot more about how this virus moves into herds, between cattle and across individual herds,” he said. “That starts with evaluating what’s really happening.”

Just as the state doesn’t reveal the identities of dairy or poultry operations with H5N1 outbreaks, researchers would also keep identifying details secret. Wells said participation is crucial for effectively countering virus transmission, including among farmworkers exposed to infected cattle.

“We implement policy based on the best information we have today,” he said. “We have a lot of questions that need answering.”