Despite the delusions of the raw milk crowd, ingesting unpasteurized milk brimming with infectious avian H5N1 influenza virus is a really dangerous thought, in accordance with freshly squeezed knowledge revealed Friday within the New England Journal of Medicine.
Researchers on the University of Wisconsin-Madison squirted raw H5N1-containing milk from contaminated cows into the throats of anesthetized laboratory mice, discovering that the virus triggered systemic infections after the mice had been noticed swallowing the dose. The sicknesses started shortly, with signs of lethargy and ruffled fur beginning on day 1. On day 4, the animals had been euthanized to stop prolonged struggling. Subsequent evaluation discovered that the mice had excessive ranges of H5N1 bird flu virus in their respiratory tracts, as nicely their hearts, kidneys, spleens, livers, mammary glands, and brains.
“Collectively, our knowledge point out that HPAI [Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza] A(H5N1) virus in untreated milk can infect prone animals that eat it,” the researchers concluded. The researchers additionally discovered that raw milk containing H5N1 can stay infectious for weeks when saved at fridge temperatures.
Bird flu has not traditionally been thought of a foodborne pathogen, however previous to the sudden outbreak of H5N1 in US dairy cows found in March, it had by no means been discovered at excessive ranges in a meals product like milk earlier than. While specialists have stepped up warnings towards ingesting raw milk amid the outbreak, the mouse experiment presents a few of the first knowledge on the dangers of H5N1 from ingesting unpasteurized dairy.
Before the mouse knowledge, quite a few experiences have famous carnivores falling ailing with H5N1 after consuming contaminated wild birds. And a research from March within the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases reported that over half of the 24 or so cats on an H5N1-infected dairy farm in Texas died after ingesting raw milk from the sick cows. Before their deaths, the cats displayed distressing neurological signs, and research discovered the virus had invaded their lungs, brains, hearts, and eyes.
While the information can not undoubtedly decide if people who drink H5N1-contaminated raw milk will endure the identical destiny because the mice and cats, it highlights the very actual danger. Still, raw milk fanatics have disregarded the considerations. PBS NewsHour reported final week that since March 25, when the H5N1 outbreak in US dairy cows was introduced, weekly gross sales of raw cow’s milk have ticked up 21 p.c, to as a lot as 65 p.c in contrast with the identical intervals a yr in the past, in accordance with knowledge shared by market analysis agency NielsenIQ. Moreover, the founding father of California-based Raw Milk Institute, Mark McAfee, informed the Los Angeles Times this month that his prospects baselessly imagine ingesting H5N1 will give them immunity to the lethal pathogen.
In regular occasions, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration strongly discourage ingesting raw milk. Without pasteurization, it could simply be contaminated with all kinds of pathogens, together with Campylobacter, Cryptosporidium, E. coli, Listeria, Brucella, and Salmonella.
Fortunately, for the majority of Americans who heed germ concept, pasteurization seems fully efficient at deactivating the virus in milk, in accordance with thorough testing by the FDA. Pasteurized milk is taken into account secure throughout the outbreak. The US Department of Agriculture, in the meantime, experiences discovering no H5N1 in retail beef thus far and, in laboratory experiments, beef patties purposefully inoculated with H5N1 had no viable virus in them after the patties had been cooked to 145°F (medium) or 160°F (nicely accomplished).
To date, the USDA has reported that H5N1 has contaminated no less than 58 dairy herds in 9 states.