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Researchers recently discovered that samples of raw milk mixed with high levels of avian influenza still contained small amounts of the virus after standard pasteurization procedures.
The findings reflect laboratory experimental conditions and should not be used to draw conclusions about the safety of the U.S. milk supply, the paper's authors said. Study by National Institutes of Health researchers.
This study was published in the New England Journal of Medicine. As more information about the virus comes to light, countries around the world are trying to ramp up vaccination efforts to prevent what could become another pandemic-like event for humans.
Because there is limited data available regarding the susceptibility of avian influenza in milk after pasteurization, researchers heat-treated the infected raw milk at various time intervals between 63 and 72 degrees Celsius (or between 145.4 and 161.6 degrees F). I was trying to experiment. It is most common in commercial dairy pasteurization processes.
While pasteurization dramatically reduced the amount of avian influenza virus in the samples, trace amounts were found in one-third of the samples heat-treated at 72C for up to 20 seconds.
“These findings indicate that relatively small but detectable amounts of H5N1 virus are likely to remain infectious in milk even after 15 seconds at 72°C if initial virus levels were sufficiently high,” the researchers said.
Despite the potentially surprising results, the researchers emphasized that their study had limitations. Raw milk from virus-infected dairy cows may respond differently to pasteurization compared to experimental samples spiked with H5N1 isolated from the lungs of dead mountain lions in Montana.
So far, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has said the commercial milk supply is safe for human consumption, and tests on retail dairy products have all come back negative for avian flu.
In recent years, the H5N1 avian flu virus has killed or culled hundreds of millions of poultry worldwide, with many more cases spreading to mammals and, in some cases, to humans.
Recently 59-year-old male from Mexico He was infected with the rare H5N2 avian flu virus, which has not previously been identified in humans, and died of other health complications in April, according to the World Health Organization. Earlier this year, toddlers in australia After a short trip to India, he tested positive for H5N1, received treatment and recovered.
Finland plans to start offering avian flu vaccinations to workers exposed to the virus as early as next week. Reuters reportedIt became the first country in the world to do so. No one in the Nordic country has been infected with the virus, but they are prepared to distribute the vaccine considering the risk of transmission on fur farms.
In the United States, cases of avian influenza in dairy cattle have surged in Idaho, Iowa and Colorado, with each state reporting more than 10 infected herds in the past 30 days. Department of Agriculture's online tracker as of June 21. Since the outbreak began in late March, three farm workers in Texas and Michigan have contracted the virus after being exposed to infected dairy cows.
