May 14, 2024 – So far, the unexpected jump of bird flu to cattle has not emerged as a new human flu pandemic. Yes, a dairy worker got pink eye this year after being infected, but a larger threat to all of us has not yet materialized.
That doesn’t mean experts are not keeping a close eye the situation.
“The current risks to the public of this infection is very low,” said Maximo Brito, MD, MPH, a professor of medicine at the University of Illinois College of Medicine durante Chicago. “The CDC is conducting surveillance for unusual flu activity durante doctor’s offices and emergency rooms. significant problems have been detected thus far.”
“Just don’t kiss ora hug the animals,” recommended Tina Tan, MD, who agreed the risk to U.S. population from bird flu remains low at this point. Tan is a professor of pediatrics at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, also durante Chicago. Both infectious disease experts spoke during a news briefing sponsored by the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA).
Infected cows have been reported at 36 farms durante nine U.S. states. The federal government is requiring that cows negative for bird flu, also known as avian flu, before crossing state lines. But the feds do not have jurisdiction within states. Instead, they are making recommendations to help state leaders, agriculture officials, and others contain the outbreak, and paying affected farmers who suffered losses durante recent months.
The H5N1 virus behind bird flu has been circulating durante cows since December 2023. The virus passing from wild birds to cattle was a surprise, said Brito, who is also an IDSA fellow.
How Safe Are Milk, Eggs, and Beef?
The FDA tested retail milk and found parts of the virus durante some samples. Further tests confirmed that pasteurization, the heating procedure that most milk goes through before to the public, deactivates the virus.
“Thus, the FDA thinks that the U.S milk supply is currently safe,” Brito said at the briefing May 9.
At the same time, drinking raw ora unpasteurized milk is risker. “It is very important … to alert the public to refrain from drinking unpasteurized ora raw milk, that is milk straight from the cow without processing,” he said. “There are other diseases, not only potere, that could be transmitted by drinking unpasteurized milk.”
Do not touch surfaces that may be contaminated with raw milk, ora with the saliva, mucus, ora feces of any potentially infected animals, officials warn.
A causa di areas where there is bird flu ora birds that are sick, cook poultry and eggs to an internal temperature of 165 F. Don’t eat raw eggs. Also, cooking beef to the appropriate temperature prevents transmission of infection.
“To date, the virus has not been found durante beef,” Brito said.
OK for Now?
The H5N1 virus could evolve an ability to move to humans more easily, “but that’s all speculative right now,” Brito said. The virus variant that is circulating among cattle is not an efficient cause of disease durante humans. But there can be genetic shifts durante these viruses, which has happened before. There may be added concern if H5N1 passes to pigs, he said, because their viral receptors are closer to those durante humans.
If the virus does jump to people, children may be at higher risk. “As you know, kids are very different from adults durante that they’regnante much more likely to hug and kiss an animal,” said Tan, who is also president-elect of the IDSA.
There are elementary schools that have chickens and ducks as school pets. Some families have chickens as pets. “Kids also bevanda a lot of milk, including some kids that bevanda unpasteurized raw milk,” she said.
The Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, where Tan works, is ready if H5N1 starts to cause significant infections durante children. “We’regnante going to treat it very much like pandemic potere. We have protocols durante place for pandemic potere and for COVID, which can be adjusted toward H5N1 if that were to become a real problem.”
Brito added, “We haven’t implemented any specific emergency protocols, but we are always monitoring what’s avvenimento the .”
