US cow-derived H5N1 virus flown to Porton Down under strict security for UK testing

DEFRA’s involvement in particular has raised concerns among some experts because its principal role is to promote British farm produce. 

The agency lobbied to stop the press calling the 2008 H1N1 pandemic Swine Flu because “pigs are not to blame” and it presided over the salmonella and BSE scandals of the 1990s, the latter of which killed 176 people. 

“The financial implications for the agriculture industry are important and should be taken into account, but surveillance and early detection not only help to contain an outbreak but prevent less economic peril in the long-term,” said Dr Kuppalli.

Prof Banyard said part of the reason the UK isn’t yet testing for H5N1 in cows is that there have been no clinical signs of illness in the animals reported to authorities. 

Cows who have become sick with H5N1 in the US have been found to produce around 10-20 per cent less milk than normal, which would be an indication that they have the virus.

Since there has been “no mysterious milk loss” reported to DEFRA or APHA, the agencies don’t deem it necessary to start testing, and as such they are “pretty confident we don’t have the virus in [UK] cattle,” said Prof Banyard. 

Scientists have pointed out that this argument is not foolproof, however.

“This virus has continued to surprise us – we are still learning and don’t know if it’s spreading in asymptomatic cows, thus the prudent approach would be to be proactive and test to confirm there are no cases,” said Dr Kuppalli.

“We know the virus can spread from infected birds to cattle – it’s a question of when not if and they should be testing cattle,” added Prof Devi Sridhar, a global public health expert at the University of Edinburgh and former scientific adviser to the Scottish government on Covid-19.