Upcoming county fairs come with a bird flu concern

The summer pastime of going to the county fair could carry some risk this year, with the threat of bird flu hanging over livestock, experts say. Why it matters: Arkansas is the third-largest producer of chicken meat in the U.S., with more than 6,500 farmers raising birds. All in, Arkansas Farm Bureau estimates the industry was responsible for $35.7 billion in economic activity in 2020.

State of play: The mingling of animals, people and equipment at 4-H competitions, milking demonstrations and petting farms creates the conditions for potential transmission to humans.

• "What we do at fairs kind of violates every tenet of biosecurity that we preach — and we do it on public display, and we charge the public," Andrew Bowman, a veterinarian from Ohio State University, told CIDRAP News .
• "As great as fairs are for agricultural education, they create situations with multiple species from different farms housed in one spot," he said.

Driving the news: Federal officials reiterated during a recent call with reporters that the risk from the virus, which has spread across livestock herds in more than a dozen states, remains low for humans.

• However, they also said they are "concerned" about potential for spread and noted that many state and county fairs were taking steps to mitigate the risks.
• The CDC late last month released guidance for fair exhibitors to reduce risk of transmission among animals. Recommendations include shortening the amount of time livestock are at the fair, regular hand-washing and avoiding eating, drinking or touching the mouth while in animal areas.

Zoom in: The state Department of Agriculture simply recommends that lactating cattle moved within Arkansas test negative for the virus, but requires testing for cattle coming from other states.

• In Missouri, all lactating dairy cattle must have a negative test seven days before arrival at the state fairgrounds.
• The Poultry Federation of Arkansas, Oklahoma and Missouri did not respond to an inquiry from Axios.

Reality check: There've been no reported cases of avian influenza in Arkansas since December 2023.

The bottom line: "It is a real concern. If we look at past years, we surely have seen evidence of animal-to-human transmission in the fairs," said Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota.

• It's unclear how much transmission could occur in these environments, but he pointed specifically to a few outbreaks of the H3N2 variant in 2016 that were believed to be connected to swine exposure at fairs held in Ohio and Michigan.
• It's critical that fairs in all states are following biosecurity measures, he said.

What's next: Upcoming NWA-area county fairs include Sebastian and Washington (Aug. 20-24); Madison (Aug. 23-31); Crawford (Sept. 11-16); and Benton (Sept. 20-28).

• The Carroll County Fair wraps up Saturday.