FDA Finds Infectious H5N1 Bird Flu Virus In 14% Of Raw Milk Samples

An alarming 14% of uncooked milk samples taken from states with dairy herd outbreaks contained infectious H5N1 chicken flu, based on new testing results launched by the FDA.

The researchers took 275 milk samples from bulk storage tanks on farms in 4 states the place dairy cattle are confirmed to be contaminated by H5N1. The virus was truly detected in 57.5% of the samples, with additional testing exhibiting {that a} quarter of those contained infectious virus.

The outcomes had been printed in a preprint paper, which has not but been peer reviewed by exterior consultants for scientific rigor. Nevertheless, the paper has sparked a major response from consultants world wide, reiterating the hazards of consuming uncooked milk.

The researchers additionally artificially spiked milk with infectious H5N1 virus, earlier than warmth treating it in a course of designed to imitate pasteurization, which the usual industrial milk provide goes by earlier than sale, discovering that the method was very efficient at inactivating the virus. “These findings show that the milk provide is protected,” the researchers acknowledged.

The consumption of uncooked milk, which has not undergone filtration or warmth remedy to take away pathogens, has been liable for a number of outbreaks of sickness together with with micro organism resembling campylobacter and comes with important well being dangers, according to the CDC. Though there aren’t any documented instances but of people getting H5N1 by ingesting contaminated uncooked milk, there may be proof that mice have been contaminated through ingesting cow’s milk.

The brand new outcomes come amid a brand new survey launched at the moment which reveals that lower than half of U.S. adults know that ingesting uncooked milk is extra unsafe than ingesting milk that has been pasteurized.

The survey, run by researchers on the Annenberg Public Coverage Middle on the College of Pennsylvania from June 7-10, requested greater than 1,000 U.S. adults their beliefs about uncooked milk, discovering that solely 47% of respondents knew that uncooked milk was much less protected to drink. An extra 30% weren’t certain, 15% thought it was simply as protected and 9% of respondents thought it was safer.

“It is vital that anybody planning to devour uncooked milk remember that doing so could make you sick and that pasteurization reduces the chance of milk-borne sicknesses,” mentioned Patrick E. Jamieson, director of the Annenberg Well being and Threat Communication Institute on the Annenberg Public Coverage Middle on the College of Pennsylvania.

The survey additionally discovered that 20% of respondents weren’t certain how efficient pasteurization is at killing viruses and micro organism and 4% thought it was “not too efficient” or “under no circumstances efficient.” Adults who had been 65 or older and/or faculty educated had been extra prone to perceive the advantages of pasteurization and in addition accurately imagine that pasteurization doesn’t destroy vitamins in milk.

Some beliefs about uncooked milk had been additionally completely different relying on political affiliation, with 57% of Democrats believing that ingesting uncooked milk is extra unsafe than ingesting pasteurized milk, in comparison with 37% of Republicans.

“The distinction in views of uncooked milk that we see between Democrats and Republicans is tough to disentangle from the distinction between rural and concrete dwellers,” mentioned Kathleen Corridor Jamieson, director of the Annenberg Public Coverage Middle. “These in rural areas are each extra prone to establish as Republicans and to devour uncooked milk.”