This text reprinted from The Dialog underneath a Inventive Commons license.
Current outbreaks of avian influenza—in U.S. dairy herds, poultry farms in Australia and elsewhere, in addition to remoted human instances—have raised the difficulty of meals security.
So can the virus soar from contaminated cattle and infect milk, meat or eggs? How probably is that? And what do we want to consider to reduce the danger when purchasing or getting ready meals?
How secure is milk?
Chook flu (or chook flu) is a illness of birds attributable to sure kinds of influenza virus. However the virus can even infect cows. Within the US up to now, greater than 80 dairy herds in at the least 9 states have been contaminated with the H5N1 virus.
An investigation is underway to verify how this occurred. However we do know that contaminated birds can shed the virus of their saliva, nasal secretions and feces. Due to this fact, avian influenza can probably contaminate meals merchandise of animal origin throughout processing and manufacturing.
Certainly, fragments of the genetic materials (RNA) of avian influenza have been discovered within the cow’s milk of dairy herds related to contaminated American farmers.
Nonetheless, the unfold of avian influenza amongst cattle and presumably people was probably attributable to contact with contaminated milking gear fairly than the milk itself.
The take a look at used to detect the virus in milk — which makes use of PCR know-how much like laboratory exams for Covid — can be extremely delicate. Which means that it might detect very low ranges of avian flu RNA. However the take a look at doesn’t distinguish between dwell or inactivated virus, solely that RNA is current. Due to this fact, we can not inform from this take a look at alone whether or not the virus discovered within the milk is infectious (and able to infecting people).
Does this imply the milk is secure to drink and doesn’t transmit chook flu? Sure and no.
In Australia, the place chook flu has not been recorded in dairy cattle, the reply is optimistic. It’s secure to drink milk and milk merchandise comprised of Australian milk. Within the US, the reply will depend on whether or not the milk is pasteurized. We all know that pasteurization is a standard and dependable technique of killing harmful germs, together with the flu virus. Like most viruses, influenza virus (together with avian influenza virus) is inactivated by warmth.
Though there may be little direct analysis on whether or not pasteurization inactivates H5N1 in milk, we will extrapolate from what we find out about warmth inactivation of H5N1 in rooster and eggs. Due to this fact, we will ensure that there is no such thing as a danger of chook flu transmission via pasteurized milk or dairy merchandise.
Nonetheless, it’s a totally different matter for unpasteurized or “uncooked” American milk or milk merchandise. A current examine discovered that mice fed uncooked milk contaminated with chook flu confirmed indicators of sickness. So, to be on the secure facet, it could be advisable to keep away from uncooked dairy merchandise.
How about rooster?
Avian influenza causes sporadic outbreaks in wild and home birds worldwide, together with in Australia. Three outbreaks have been reported at Victorian poultry farms in current weeks (two with H7N3 avian influenza, one with H7N9). One outbreak was reported in Western Australia (H9N2).
Avian influenza strains present in outbreaks in Victoria and Western Australia could cause human an infection, though they’re uncommon and often end result from shut contact with contaminated dwell birds or contaminated environments. Due to this fact, the likelihood of transmission of chook flu via rooster meat is small.
