“We are shut down resulting from testing outcomes displaying DEAD VIRUS PIECES in a few of our samples. Nothing alive,” McAfee mentioned, even if testing for dwell virus remains to be pending. “We are testing and could have extra information quickly,” he added.
Another doc McAfee despatched was an assessment from Margaret E. (Peg) Coleman, a microbiologist and uncooked milk advocate, who argues, amongst different issues, that there’s a lack of proof of milk-borne transmission of chook flu viruses, particularly excessive pathogenic avian influenza viruses (HPAI). That contains H5N1, an HPAI that’s presently inflicting an unprecedented nationwide outbreak in US dairy cattle.
Human infections
On this level, Coleman is not flawed. The outbreak of H5N1, which was declared in March, is the primary time an HPAI has been detected in US cows. And the outbreak has been like no different seen anyplace on this planet earlier than. As such, there are various questions and unknowns concerning the danger the dairy outbreak poses to people, together with whether or not folks may be contaminated with the virus by ingesting excessive ranges of it in milk.
To date, no human infections have been linked to Raw Farm’s uncooked milk.
However, real-world proof from H5N1 infections in dairy staff strongly signifies that folks can grow to be contaminated from milk. To date, no less than 34 dairy workers within the US have developed H5N1 infections after working with contaminated cows. The staff’ infections are largely thought to happen through milk, together with from having milk splashed of their eyes or touching their faces with milk-contaminated fingers. One of the commonest signs amongst dairy staff is conjunctivitis, aka pink eye.
In its alert final week, the California well being division warned that whereas pasteurization successfully kills chook flu, uncooked milk customers are vulnerable to the virus, writing:
