Researchers from the University of Minnesota are studying the presence of avian influenza in dairy cattle.

This research comes after the College of Veterinary Medicine received a $1.5 million grant from the Department of Agriculture to work on collaborative projects looking into the virus’ disease transmission.

Until recently, avian influenza was not thought to exist in animals such as cattle. The first cases of the virus in dairy cattle were reported last year in March, according to Scott Wells, a professor in the Department of Veterinary Population Medicine.

Wells coordinates nine different projects that are being funded with the $1.5 million from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. He also leads three of the nine projects.

The USDA put in place the National Milk Testing Strategy aimed at testing milk from dairy cattle to see if it is affected by the virus.

“Eventually, diagnosticians figured out that milk samples were one of the best samples to find this in cattle, at least in cattle that have had a calf and are milking,” Wells said.

So far in Minnesota, nine herds of dairy cattle have reported getting avian influenza. When this happens to dairy cattle, they stop eating their feed and their milk production decreases, leaving dairy farmers to lose money.

Wells and his team’s research entails studying the spread of the virus and how to contain it so fewer farmers and animals are affected by it.

“We are not doing invasive type research, it is more collecting samples of certain animals at certain times, trying to understand how long do individual animals shed the virus in the milk, in the nasal swabs, how likely it is to detect this in the air surrounding farms, or in the colostrum in milk from infected cows,” Wells said.

Declan Schroeder, a University professor of virology in the College of Veterinary Medicine, is also helping with these projects that are being funded by the USDA.

“It is a big leverage for us to use the skills we have acquired over the years, I work on multiple species of viruses, so using those skills that I have gathered over time and applying my understanding of the way viruses survive, how stable they are, how they are transmitted in the dairy,” Schroeder said. “That is all fundamental research which is important to then make predictions, have better tools for surveillance, have a better understanding of transmission.”

Wells said dabbling and diving ducks are considered an important reservoir for avian influenza.

“This is influenza, it could happen any time, we don’t really know what the future is going to hold, but we want to be ready,” Wells said.