April 30, 2024 – As bird flu spreads amongst cattle, federal authorities have tightened safety measures while insisting the chance to public health is low. But questions and fears remain amid an outbreak that has affected no less than 34 dairy herds in nine states.
The latest precautionary measure, announced on Monday by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, involves sampling ground beef from states with infected herds. (Meat production from “retired” dairy cows accounts for about 10% industrial beef production within the United States.)
The decision to take beef samples relies on several additional precautionary measures:
- Dairy cows in lactation must now tested for the bird flu virus H5N1 before traveling between countries.
- Dairy employees and other vulnerable individuals should wear personal protective equipment (PPE) and other Precautions, advises the CDC.
- Together with the USDA and government partners, the CDC surveillance exposed employees.
- The CDC is uits influenza surveillance systems to observe H5N1 activity in humans.
Despite all these precautions, federal authorities insist that our milk and meat supplies are secure and fit for consumption. As the CDC puts it, “Although the current risk to public health is low, CDC is closely monitoring the situation and working with states to monitor people who have had contact with animals.”
The measures to contain bird flu are supported by the dairy industry. In a Opinion, Gregg Doud, CEO of the National Milk Producers Federation, called the USDA's testing and travel measures “appropriate.”
But concerns remain. The most significant of those is: If the H5N1 viruses can spread so easily amongst humans, how is widespread transmission or a pandemic possible? report On April 3, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control discussed possible causes of a bird flu pandemic. It found that the viruses proceed to evolve and said: “If avian influenza viruses of type A(H5N1) acquire the ability to spread efficiently among humans, large-scale transmission could occur due to the lack of immunity. [defenses] against H5 viruses in humans.”
Read on for an summary of the present outbreak.
What a few vaccine for humans?
As a speaker on the World Vaccine Congress In early April, Peter Marks, MD, PhD, director of the FDA's Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, said he was confident that the bird flu vaccines in U.S. supplies would work if human vaccination became mandatory. Under the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (IN THE BAR) has long-standing partnerships with vaccine manufacturers to strengthen preparedness and response for the following influenza pandemics. In 2018 Researchers reported that a vaccine against H5N1 stored in national stockpiles has not lost its effectiveness even after 12 years. However, other experts doubted whether the older vaccines would work against the present strain and whether supplies can be sufficient. Federal officials on Wednesday said that if needed, two possible vaccines may very well be ready inside just a few weeks.
About the virus and its spread
The bird flu currently affecting dairy herds, often called highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) or H5N1 virus, is a kind A flu. It will be transmitted from wild birds to domestic poultry and other bird and animal species, the FDA says. Wild birds are considered a source of the virus with infected livestock, however the USDA investigation includes some cases where the virus spread between flocks. While bird flu viruses don't normally infect humans, human infections are happened.
According to a study by the World Health Organization Report, From 2003 to March 28, 2024, 888 cases of human infection with H5N1 were reported from 23 countries; the mortality rate was 52%.
One human caseIn reference to the recent outbreak, a employee in Texas was reported to have had contact with dairy cows.
When the primary infection in a dairy herd was reported at the tip of March, this was the primary time that H5N1 had been detected in Cattle, in response to the CDC. The nine states with infected dairy herds are Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, Michigan, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, South Dakota and Texas.
Milk Concerns: The Timeline
Concerns concerning the milk supply arose on April 2 when the FDA received the outcomes of its nationally representative industrial milk sample study. It found that about 1 of 5 A test called polymerase chain response (qPCR) has tested samples at retail stores positive for virus fragments of the bird flu virus. Experts say these tests don't necessarily represent real viruses.
“The fact that the fragments were found does not mean that the virus is intact or biologically active and can cause infection,” said Terry Lehenbauer, DVM, MPVM, PhD, professor and director of the Veterinary Medicine Teaching and Research Center on the University of California Davis, Tulare, in a telephone interview. “It just means that there is evidence that the virus was in the milk.”
To Friday, The FDA announced the outcomes of a more rigorous test often called the egg inoculation test, which involves injecting a sample of the virus right into a fertilized chicken egg to see if the virus replicates. No live, infectious virus was found. The agency also tested several small samples of infant formula and powdered milk products marketed as toddler formula. All qPCR tests were negative. The agency can also be testing samples of 239 retail dairy products from states with infected herds.
Experts agree that pasteurization, the heating of liquids to high temperatures to kill harmful microbes, protects against the bird flu virus.
“Based on the findings we “It is reasonable to assume that our current milk pasteurization processes are effective in killing viruses, including avian influenza, which we are currently battling in dairy cows,” said Lehenbauer.
He said he told his family this. “Here is the final sentence I sent in an email yesterday afternoon [April 25] to the families of my son and daughter, which include five grandchildren (ages 8 to almost 2 years old): “Continue to give all grandchildren their milk and dairy products! It is still a safe and complete diet!”
When asked if consumers could do anything to organize for a worsening of the outbreak,Lehenbauer advised nothing greater than normal food safety measures. “All the evidence and current information suggests that the chance to individuals who drink milk could be very low. This relies on two fundamental aspects. One is the strict regulations governing milk production and the opposite is the federal advice to only eat pasteurized dairy products.”
New warnings about raw milk
The FDA has long advised against drinking raw (unpasteurized) milk, but is now emphasizing this recommendation. Despite this recommendation, the Raw Milk Institute says that drinking raw milk is just not dangerous, even in the present bird flu situation.“HPAI [an umbrella term for avian influenza A (H5) and A (H7) viruses] is nothing new,” said Mark McAfee, chairman of the Raw Milk Institute, in an email when asked if his organization would advise against consuming raw milk for the time being. “IIt has been around for 3 years and does not cause disease in humans. It lacks the gene to jump to humans.”
But Dr. Andrew Pekosz, professor and virologist at the Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University, believes this is wrong.
“It can infect people. It is not capable of being transmitted from person to person.” That is currently true, he said, but “it is one of the things we are paying close attention to. Could it mutate?”
Long-lasting infections
Although the news of the infected milk samples only emerged recently, experts believe that the virus has been present in cattle for some time. “It's probably been here for several months,” said Lehenbauer.
Others are trying to find out how it got to the cattle. After the USDA 239 genetic sequences of the H5N1 virus found in samples of poultry, birds and cattle, scientists began to analyze it. An analysis by Professor at the University of Arizona Michael Worobey concluded that “There was a single origin [from birds]at least for these sequences.”