U.S. tests show pasteurized milk is safe amid bird flu outbreak

Federal health officials announced Friday that additional testing of the milk showed that pasteurization killed the avian influenza virus, as Colorado became the ninth U.S. state to report infections in its dairy herd. .

The outbreak comes as tests show one in five commercial milk samples in the United States contain remnants of the virus, suggesting the outbreak is more widespread than previously thought. Federal lawmakers have urged the Biden administration to further curb the spread of the virus.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced late Friday that preliminary results from a gold standard PCR test show that pasteurization kills the virus in milk and infant formula. He did not say how many dairy products had been tested, but added that 297 more products from 38 states will be tested.

One Texas farm worker has been confirmed to have avian influenza and suffered from conjunctivitis after coming into contact with dairy cows during the outbreak. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization announced Friday that the current overall public health risk is low, but the risk is high for people who come into contact with infected animals.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture confirms that a dairy cow in Colorado has tested positive, following infections in Texas, Kansas, Michigan, Ohio, Idaho, New Mexico, North Carolina and South Dakota. .

A month after it was first detected in a dairy herd in Texas, members of Congress are calling on federal agriculture and health officials to determine how the H5N1 virus is spreading and its potential risk to people. Pressure increased as the United States and other groups called for a stronger response.

Analysis of USDA data by scientists at the University of Arizona shows that the first known outbreak of H5N1 in dairy cows is more widespread than the 34 herds in nine states that officially tested positive. We present new evidence that this is true.

“It's important to contain this before it spreads among humans. Given the lessons learned from the coronavirus, this federal response has been insufficient,” Republican Sen. Mitt Romney told X. I mentioned it in my post.

Some lawmakers, including Mr. Romney, are pushing to reinstate a bill known as the Pandemic and All Hazards Preparedness Act, which expired last year and was intended to strengthen the nation's response to pandemics and other public health threats. There is a bipartisan push for approval. The recent spread of bird flu and the detection of his H5N1 genetic material in milk has led to calls for action in some quarters.

Dr. Michael Worobey, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Arizona, said the virus in humans is very different from the avian influenza virus samples taken from infected cows that government officials released over the weekend.

He told Reuters that differences between the genetic sequence of the worker's virus and the 239 other samples provided showed that “this has been circulating widely for a very long time.”

The Texas Animal Health Commission said it has not received information on the employee's farm location or obtained samples of the herd for testing, citing confidentiality requirements.

“I think the sequences that are out there probably don't represent everything that's out there,” said Dr. Richard Webby, a virologist at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis.

“As influenza viruses move from host to host, there are always subtle changes in their genetic sequences,” a CDC spokesperson said in an email. He said this shows that the virus can then be transmitted to humans.

Traces of bird flu found in US milk

The FDA announced late Thursday that one in five commercial milk samples tested in a national survey contained particles of the H5N1 virus. The agency said there was no reason to believe the virus in the milk posed a risk to human health, explaining the results of new tests on Friday.

“This shows that this virus is pretty much prevalent in dairy cows across the country,” said Dr. Michael Osterholm, an infectious disease expert at the University of Minnesota.

Many infectious disease experts and government officials said they believe the pasteurization process inactivates the virus, also known as bird flu.

“We're not worried about the milk itself,” said Samuel Arcane, an associate professor of food science at Cornell University. “This shows that the virus is more prevalent on dairy farms than we previously thought.”

Osterholm said the U.S. should do more sampling in both dairy and beef cattle, not just pigs.

Democratic U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin, a large dairy state with no reported cases, urged the Department of Agriculture to “quickly direct additional resources to states that have an opportunity to prevent this disease from entering their herds.” requested.

The White House is monitoring the avian influenza situation and has launched an 'immediate response team' to monitor trends to ensure the safety of the nation's food supply, reduce risks and prevent the spread of the virus. He said that

Starting Monday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture will require dairy cows to test negative for avian influenza before they can be moved across state lines.

Although there are no confirmed cases in Indiana, officials are considering their own restrictions, including testing within the state, State Veterinarian Brett Marsh said.

“We're looking at what needs to be done at the state level,” he said on a conference call.

photograph: AP Photo/Erin Hooley, File

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