AXIOS July 31, 2024
The quintessential summer pastime of going to the county fair could carry some risk this year with the threat of bird flu hanging over livestock exhibits and throngs of visitors, experts say.
Why it matters: 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. ...
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