Regardless of the delusions of the uncooked milk crowd, consuming unpasteurized milk brimming with infectious avian H5N1 influenza virus is a really dangerous concept, in line with freshly squeezed knowledge printed Friday within the New England Journal of Drugs.
Researchers on the College of Wisconsin-Madison squirted uncooked H5N1-containing milk from contaminated cows into the throats of anesthetized laboratory mice, discovering that the virus brought about systemic infections after the mice have been noticed swallowing the dose. The diseases started rapidly, with signs of lethargy and ruffled fur beginning on day 1. On day 4, the animals have been euthanized to forestall prolonged struggling. Subsequent evaluation discovered that the mice had excessive ranges of H5N1 fowl flu virus of 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 vulnerable animals that eat it,” the researchers concluded. The researchers additionally discovered that uncooked milk containing H5N1 can stay infectious for weeks when saved at fridge temperatures.
Chicken flu has not traditionally been thought-about 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. Whereas specialists have stepped up warnings in opposition to consuming uncooked milk amid the outbreak, the mouse experiment affords a few of the first knowledge on the dangers of H5N1 from consuming unpasteurized dairy.
Earlier than the mouse knowledge, quite a few studies have famous carnivores falling unwell with H5N1 after consuming contaminated wild birds. And a examine from March within the journal Rising Infectious Illnesses reported that over half of the 24 or so cats on an H5N1-infected dairy farm in Texas died after consuming uncooked milk from the sick cows. Earlier than their deaths, the cats displayed distressing neurological signs, and research discovered the virus had invaded their lungs, brains, hearts, and eyes.
Whereas the info can not undoubtedly decide if people who drink H5N1-contaminated uncooked milk will undergo the identical destiny because the mice and cats, it highlights the very actual danger. Nonetheless, uncooked milk lovers have disregarded the issues. PBS NewsHour reported final week that since March 25, when the H5N1 outbreak in US dairy cows was introduced, weekly gross sales of uncooked cow’s milk have ticked up 21 %, to as a lot as 65 % in contrast with the identical durations a yr in the past, in line with knowledge shared by market analysis agency NielsenIQ. Furthermore, the founding father of California-based Uncooked Milk Institute, Mark McAfee, advised the Los Angeles Occasions this month that his clients baselessly imagine consuming H5N1 will give them immunity to the lethal pathogen.
In regular instances, the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention and the Meals and Drug Administration strongly discourage consuming uncooked milk. With out pasteurization, it will probably simply be contaminated with all kinds of pathogens, together with Campylobacter, Cryptosporidium, E. coli, Listeria, Brucella, and Salmonella.
Luckily, for the majority of People who heed germ principle, pasteurization seems utterly efficient at deactivating the virus in milk, in line with thorough testing by the FDA. Pasteurized milk is taken into account protected through the outbreak. The US Division of Agriculture, in the meantime, studies discovering no H5N1 in retail beef to this point and, in laboratory experiments, beef patties purposefully inoculated with H5N1 had no viable virus in them after the patties have been cooked to 145°F (medium) or 160°F (nicely accomplished).
To this point, the USDA has reported that H5N1 has contaminated a minimum of 58 dairy herds in 9 states.
