Barron’s – The H5N1 bird flu virus strain has been detected in very high concentrations in raw milk from infected animals, the WHO said Friday, though how long the virus can survive in milk is unknown.
Avian influenza A(H5N1) first emerged in 1996 [in geese on a southern China farm] but since 2020, the number of outbreaks in birds has grown exponentially, alongside an increase in the number of infected mammals.
“The goose/Guangdong-lineage of H5N1 avian influenza viruses first emerged in 1996 and have been causing outbreaks in birds since.” – WHO
The strain has led to the deaths of tens of millions of poultry, with wild birds and land and marine mammals also infected.
Cows and goats joined the list last month — a surprising development for experts because they were not thought to be susceptible to this type of influenza.
US authorities earlier this month said a person working on a dairy farm in Texas was recovering from bird flu after being exposed to cattle.
“From 2003 to April 1 this year, the WHO said it had recorded 463 deaths from 889 human cases across 23 countries, putting the case fatality rate at 52 percent.”
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“The case in Texas is the first case of a human infected by avian influenza by a cow,” said Wenqing Zhang, head of the global influenza programme at the World Health Organization.
“Bird-to-cow, cow-to-cow and cow-to-bird transmission have also been registered during these current outbreaks, which suggest that the virus may have found other routes of transition than we previously understood,” she told a media briefing in Geneva.
It was only the second case of a human testing positive for bird flu in the United States, and came after the virus sickened herds that were apparently exposed to wild birds.
“Now we see multiple herds of cows affected in an increasing number of US states, which shows a further step of the virus spillover to mammals,” Zhang said.
“The virus has also been detected in milk from infected animals.”
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Zhang said there was a “very high virus concentration in raw milk”, but experts were still investigating exactly how long the virus is able to survive in milk …
“It is important for people to ensure safe food practices, including consuming only pasteurised milk and milk products.”