In early 2024, cows started testing positive for a virus we’ve long associated with birds H5N1, also known as Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI). The phrase bird flu in cattle started showing up in news alerts and government bulletins, albeit intermittently. But now, hundreds of infected dairy herds later, the illness is being given a new name.
Not by virologists. Not by the CDC.
By a trade group.
The American Association of Bovine Practitioners (AABP) declared it will no longer refer to the virus in cattle as HPAI. From here on out, they’re calling it Bovine Influenza A Virus (BIAV) and they’re urging federal agencies, diagnostic labs and state health officials to follow suit.
The reason?
To help the public “better understand” the difference between bird flu in birds and the milder form now spreading through cows.
They also say the change will “help maintain confidence in the safety and accessibility of dairy and beef products.”
Which might be the most honest sentence in the entire press release.
In 2024, the U.S. exported nearly 2.8 billion pounds of beef, generating over $10 billion in international sales.
China, a cornerstone of those exports, is now largely off the table. American beef faces a 32% tariff there, alongside widespread delistings of U.S. facilities.
With the Trump administration’s tariffs raising tensions across North America, maintaining consumer trust (both domestic and foreign) has never been more financially urgent for the beef lobby.
You don’t move that kind of product if people start panicking about biosecurity, let alone the potential for animal-to-human spillover.
At least 17 states have now reported H5N1 infections in dairy cattle.
Human cases have already occurred. Wastewater and milk sampling show signs of persistent viral shedding.
But the renaming of the virus comes at a time when the federal government is reportedly scaling back H5N1 surveillance efforts. Staff reductions, limited testing and quiet policy shifts are leaving fewer eyes on a virus that’s crossing species lines with alarming ease.
There’s a strange convenience in the timing.
A virus known for devastating poultry industries is now embedded in America’s dairy system. And just as public concern might begin to swell, a new label appears.
Not one rooted in viral evolution or scientific consensus but in consumer confidence.
The virus didn’t disappear.
Just the name.
Meanwhile, American consumers are seeing beef prices climb steadily, often far faster than official inflation numbers suggest.
Major media outlets and government agencies largely frame these increases as a natural outcome of supply and demand or temporary inflationary pressures. But the reality is more complex.
For a deeper look at how inflation numbers get manipulated and what that means for prices like beef, see: Shadow Inflation & the Price of Freedom
Tariffs imposed by the current administration on beef imports from key trading partners like Canada and Mexico (sometimes as high as 25%) have disrupted supply chains and added costs that producers pass down the line.
Meanwhile, retaliatory tariffs from export markets such as China have shrunk overseas demand, squeezing domestic producers from both ends.
Add to that rising feed, fuel, and labor expenses and the fallout from widespread H5N1 infections in dairy herds (costs they simply can’t eat) it’s clear that American beef is caught in a pressure cooker.
Consumers are left to wonder:
- How much of the rising beef price is due to trade policy?
- How much stems from inflation?
- And how much reflects an industry quietly trying to manage the optics of a virus now entrenched in the very livestock they rely on?
The American Association of Bovine Practitioners and the current administration say people won’t get sick from bird flu in cows unless, of course, they drink the milk raw.
But if the virus isn’t a threat, why does every regulatory body recommend only pasteurized milk?
The answers are complicated.
But what is certain is this:
The story told about beef, bird flu, and prices is being carefully served to us on a dirty platter.
© 2025 Zakariyas James. First shared here at theruminationcompilation.wordpress.com.
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