Solving the Puzzle of H5N1 in Dairy: A One Health Conversation with Jason Lombard, DVM
Description
In this episode of Dairy Digressions, host Matt Lucy welcomes Jason Lombard, DVM, veterinary epidemiologist, associate professor, and dairy systems specialist at Colorado State University, and lead author of the Journal of Dairy Science invited review, The One Health Challenges and Opportunities of the H5N1 Outbreak in Dairy Cattle in the United States. Drawing on his experience as the point person on the highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N1 outbreak and the learnings he gleaned from his expert coauthors on the review, Jason provides an update on the latest science we have on the virus and reviews its immense impact to date on animals, the US food supply, and people working in agriculture. He explains what the One Health concept means in practice, showing how dairy farms function as complex ecosystems where animals, humans, and environments are linked. The conversation also explores why the exact mechanisms of transmission—whether through the movement of cows, people, trucks, milk, or aerosols—remain so difficult to pin down. Beyond the science, Jason reflects on his career path from veterinary private practice to his time with the US Department of Agriculture to Colorado State University, describing how epidemiology feels like solving a crime, and how curiosity and humility in the face of what we still don’t know fuel his work. This episode offers a critical update on the H5N1 outbreak and connects breaking research with the lived realities of the dairy sector. It underscores why a One Health perspective will be essential not only in navigating H5N1 but also in strengthening the dairy and agricultural sectors for outbreaks yet to come.
Episode Thirty-One Show Notes
Learn more about Jason Lombard, DVM, and connect with him on LinkedIn.
Want more science on the H5N1 outbreak in dairy? Catch up on the JDS Communications special issue on highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N1 in dairy cattle, and join us at the ADSA 2026 Annual Meeting in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, next June!
Start earning rewards and journal savings via the ADSA Loyalty Rewards Program for the Journal of Dairy Science and JDS Communications.
Catch up on the papers and presentations discussed in theepisode:
H5N1 in dairy cattle: What we have learned in the past 18 months, Hoard’s Dairyman webinar (2025)
Dairy environments with milk exposure are most likely to have detection of influenza A virus, medRxiv preprint (2025)
Invited review: The One Health challenges and opportunities of the H5N1 outbreak in dairy cattle in the United States, Journal of Dairy Science (2025)
The devil you know and the devil you don’t: Current status and challenges of bovine tuberculosis eradication in the United States, Irish Veterinary Journal (2023)
Bovine tuberculosis at the interface of cattle, wildlife, and humans, pages 829–846 in Tuberculosis: Integrated Studies for a Complex Disease (2023)
Human-to-cattle Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex transmission in the United States, Frontiers in Veterinary Science (2021)
An impossible undertaking: The eradication of bovine tuberculosis in the United States, The Journal of Economic History (2004)
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