The National Milk Testing Strategy (NMTS) facilitates comprehensive H5N1 surveillance of the Nation’s milk supply and dairy herds. It provides a strategy to identify which States and herds within them are affected with H5N1.
Specifically, the NMTS gives States a five-stage roadmap (312.61 KB) to demonstrate the elimination of this virus from their dairy herds. It is designed to:
- Increase USDA’s and public health partners’ understanding of where the virus is present in the United States,
- Support the rapid implementation of enhanced biosecurity measures to decrease the risk of transmission to other livestock, and
- Inform critical efforts to protect farmworkers to help lower their risk of exposure.
Current Status by State
The map provides State status and testing and surveillance activities for each State in the contiguous United States for the NMTS. The number of confirmed HPAI cases in livestock can be found here.
Testing and Surveillance Activities
The NMTS includes a combination of dairy processing plant silo monitoring and State-specific surveillance, ongoing testing for case investigation and response, and the mandatory testing for interstate movement of lactating dairy cattle (per the Federal Orders issued April 24 and December 6, 2024). The testing and surveillance activities are implemented based on each State’s dairy industry and HPAI status over time.
State Status Definitions
Provisional Unaffected: As each State phases into the NMTS, the State’s status will be Provisional Unaffected, unless a new case of HPAI in dairy cattle has been confirmed in the State within the last 30 days or testing and surveillance activities demonstrating disease absence of H5 in dairy cattle herds in the State have not yet been completed.
Unaffected: Ongoing testing and surveillance activities demonstrate absence of disease in dairy cattle in the State.
Affected: Ongoing testing and surveillance activities demonstrate presence of disease in dairy cattle in the State.