April 24, 2024 – Particles of Bird flu The virus recently identified in dairy cows has been detected in pasteurized milk, however the nation's milk supply stays protected and the CDC has taken necessary steps to supply a vaccine in case the necessity arises, federal officials announced Tuesday.
Tiny pieces of the virus, often called H5N1 bird flu, aren’t expected to be faraway from milk during a treatment process called pasteurization, the FDA said in a Adviceand added that the agency is conducting a series of other tests, including to find out whether the virus can replicate under laboratory conditions.
The agency confirmed that milk stays protected to eat, stating that “based on currently available information, our commercial milk supply is safe for two reasons: 1) the pasteurization process and 2) the diversion or destruction of milk from sick cows.”
Symptoms in infected cattle included reduced milk production and poor appetite, in keeping with the alert.
Pasteurization involves heating milk for an prolonged time period to kill bacteria and viruses. The FDA said its further test results needs to be available within the “next few days to weeks.”
David O'Connor, PhD, a virologist on the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said The New York Times that individuals who drink milk containing virus fragments are unlikely to develop into sick.
“The risk of infection through milk containing virus fragments should be zero,” he told Just“The genetic material cannot reproduce itself.”
Avian influenza is widespread in wild birds and sometimes affects industrial poultry flocks. The disease is being detected in an increasing variety of animals, most recently in cattle.
Earlier this 12 months, a Texas cattle rancher was diagnosed with bird flu. His major symptom was conjunctivitis, but he recovered.
On Tuesday, the CDC released a update Its bird flu website said that antiviral drugs had been effective against the flu virus that infected the rancher and that “CDC has already developed a candidate vaccine virus (CVV) that could be used to make a vaccine if needed.”
Bird flu made headlines in 1997 when 18 human cases were recorded in Hong Kong. The infections were linked to poultry and 6 people died. The unique strain of the virus was eliminated “by the complete depopulation of all poultry markets and chicken farms in December 1997,” in keeping with a scientific work concerning the outbreak was published in 2003.
Since 1997, people in 23 countries have been infected with bird flu viruses, in keeping with the CDCand greater than 50% of those infected died. Avian influenza is present in wild birds in all 50 U.S. states, and most states have also had confirmed infections in industrial or backyard poultry flocks over the past two years, in keeping with the CDC. In addition to the Texas cattle rancher, there was one other human case within the U.S. linked to contact with poultry in Colorado in 2022.
Working with the CDC, FDA officials say they’re monitoring emergency room data and flu test results “for unusual trends in influenza-like illness, influenza, or pink eye,” also often called conjunctivitis.
Federal agencies have released genetic information on current bird flu strains “to ensure public transparency and to ensure that the scientific community has access to this information as quickly as possible to promote research and development of the disease for the benefit of the U.S. dairy industry,” the US Department of Agriculture announced this week.