• Email Us: [email protected]
  • Contact Us: +1 718 874 1545
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Medical Market Report

  • Home
  • All Reports
  • About Us
  • Contact Us

Milk In US Is Testing Positive For H5N1 Bird Flu Virus Fragments

April 27, 2024 by Deborah Bloomfield

Following news of bird flu outbreaks at dairy farms across the US, fragments of the virus have been found in samples of pasteurized milk. However, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) suggests that viral particles are inactive and pose no threat to consumers. 

Since late March, H5N1 bird flu has spread to at least 33 dairy herds across eight states, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). This was a surprising development since it was the first time the virus had been seen infecting cows.

Advertisement

The virus has also infected a single farmworker, becoming the second person ever in the US to be infected, who experienced very mild symptoms. 

To better understand the problem, health authorities have been monitoring the milk on shop shelves across the US. Last week, the World Organization (WHO) had detected “very high concentrations” of the virus in raw milk from infected animals. That is not necessarily surprising as unpasteurized milk can contain all kinds of bacteria and viruses. 

In a new development, the FDA has revealed that samples of pasteurized milk in the US have tested positive for inactive remnants of the H5N1 virus. They did not reveal how many samples tested positive nor where the milk was sampled from. However, they did state that pasteurization is likely to inactivate the virus and “the process is not expected to remove the presence of viral particles.”

“To date, we have seen nothing that would change our assessment that the commercial milk supply is safe,” the FDA said in a statement on Tuesday.

Advertisement

Along with testing, the FDA and the US Department of Agriculture are working to divert and destroy milk from sick cows. 

Named after French microbiologist Louis Pasteur, pasteurization is the process of heating up food to eliminate pathogens and extend its shelf life. Virtually all milk (99 percent) produced and sold in the US comes from farms that follow a strict pasteurization process, known as the Pasteurized Milk Ordinance.

As a heat-sensitive virus, H5N1 should be inactivated by standard pasteurization techniques – at least in theory. However, bird flu infecting cows is a novel problem, so there are currently no studies on the effects of pasteurization of H5N1 in bovine milk.

“US government partners have been working with deliberate speed on a wide range of studies looking at milk along all stages of production – on the farm, during processing, and on shelves – using well-established methodologies used previously to confirm pasteurization effectiveness for known pathogens,” the FDA said. “This work is a top priority.”

Deborah Bloomfield
Deborah Bloomfield

Related posts:

  1. Soccer-‘I was super nervous’, says Ronaldo after memorable second debut at Man Utd
  2. U.S. Treasury’s Yellen cites need for compromise on digital service taxes in call with French counterpart
  3. IFLScience The Big Questions Season 3 Coming Soon!
  4. The Human Nose Might Be Home To The Next New Antibiotic

Source Link: Milk In US Is Testing Positive For H5N1 Bird Flu Virus Fragments

Filed Under: News

Primary Sidebar

  • Project Hail Mary Trailer First Look: What Would Happen If The Sun Got Darker?
  • Newly Discovered Cell Structure Might Hold Key To Understanding Devastating Genetic Disorders
  • What Is Kakeya’s Needle Problem, And Why Do We Want To Solve It?
  • “I Wasn’t Prepared For The Sheer Number Of Them”: Cave Of Mummified Never-Before-Seen Eyeless Invertebrates Amazes Scientists
  • Asteroid Day At 10: How The World Is More Prepared Than Ever To Face Celestial Threats
  • What Happened When A New Zealand Man Fell Butt-First Onto A Powerful Air Hose
  • Ancient DNA Confirms Women’s Unexpected Status In One Of The Oldest Known Neolithic Settlements
  • Earth’s Weather Satellites Catch Cloud Changes… On Venus
  • Scientists Find Common Factors In People Who Have “Out-Of-Body” Experiences
  • Shocking Photos Reveal Extent Of Overfishing’s Impact On “Shrinking” Cod
  • Direct Fusion Drive Could Take Us To Sedna During Its Closest Approach In 11,000 Years
  • Earth’s Energy Imbalance Is More Than Double What It Should Be – And We Don’t Know Why
  • We May Have Misjudged A Fundamental Fact About The Cambrian Explosion
  • The Shoebill Is A Bird So Bizarre That Some People Don’t Even Believe It’s Real
  • Colossal’s “Dire Wolves” Are Now 6 Months Old – And They’ve Doubled In Size
  • How To Fake A Fossil: Find Out More In Issue 36 Of CURIOUS – Out Now
  • Is It True Earth Used To Take 420 Days To Orbit The Sun?
  • One Of The Ocean’s “Most Valuable Habitats” Grows The Only Flowers Known To Bloom In Seawater
  • World’s Largest Digital Camera Snaps 2,104 New Asteroids In 10 Hours, Mice With 2 Dads Father Their Own Offspring, And Much More This Week
  • Simplest Explanation For “Anomalous” Signals Coming From Underneath Antarctica Ruled Out
  • Business
  • Health
  • News
  • Science
  • Technology
  • +1 718 874 1545
  • +91 78878 22626
  • [email protected]
Office Address
Prudour Pvt. Ltd. 420 Lexington Avenue Suite 300 New York City, NY 10170.

Powered by Prudour Network

Copyrights © 2025 · Medical Market Report. All Rights Reserved.

Go to mobile version