May 14, 2024 – So far, the unexpected attack of bird flu on cattle has not proved to be a brand new human flu pandemic. Yes, a dairy employee contracted conjunctivitis after being infected this 12 months, but a greater threat to all of us has not yet materialized.
However, this doesn’t mean that experts aren’t closely monitoring the situation.
“The current risk of this infection to the general population is very low,” said Maximo Brito, MD, MPH, professor of drugs on the University of Illinois College of Medicine in Chicago. “The CDC is monitoring physician offices and emergency departments for unusual flu activity. No significant problems have been identified to date.”
“Just don’t kiss or hug the animals,” really useful Dr. Tina Tan, who estimates the chance to the US population from Bird flu stays low at the moment. Tan is a professor of pediatrics at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, also in Chicago. Both infectious disease experts spoke during a press conference sponsored by the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA).
Infected cows have been reported on 36 farms in nine U.S. states. The federal government requires that cows test negative for bird flu before crossing state lines. But the federal government has no jurisdiction inside states. Instead, it makes recommendations to assist state leaders, agriculture officials and others contain the outbreak, and Payment of affected farmers who’ve suffered losses in recent months.
The H5N1 virus accountable for bird flu has been circulating in cows since December 2023. The incontrovertible fact that the virus was transmitted from wild birds to cattle was a surprise, said Brito, who can be an IDSA fellow.
How protected are milk, eggs and beef?
The FDA tested retail milk and located parts of the virus in some samples. Further testing confirmed that pasteurization, the heating process most milk undergoes before being sold to the general public, inactivates the virus.
“Therefore, the FDA believes that the milk supply in the United States is currently safe,” Brito said on the May 9 press conference.
At the identical time, consuming raw or unpasteurized milk is riskier. “It is very important … to make the public aware not to drink unpasteurized or raw milk, that is, milk directly from the cow without it being processed,” he said. “There are other diseases, not just flu, that can be transmitted through the consumption of unpasteurized milk.”
Do not touch surfaces that could be contaminated with raw milk or with saliva, mucus or feces from potentially infected animals, officials warn.
In areas with avian flu or sick birds, poultry and eggs must be cooked to an internal temperature of 74°C. Raw eggs shouldn’t be eaten. Additionally, cooking beef to the right temperature prevents the transmission of infection.
“To date, the virus has not been found in beef,” Brito said.
OK for now?
The H5N1 virus could develop the flexibility to spread more easily to humans, “but that's all speculation right now,” Brito said. The virus variant circulating amongst cattle shouldn’t be an efficient explanation for disease in humans. But genetic shifts can occur in these viruses, which has happened before. There could possibly be additional concerns if H5N1 spreads to pigs, he said, because their viral receptors are more much like those of humans.
If the virus does indeed jump to humans, children could possibly be at higher risk. “As you know, children are very different from adults in that they are much more likely to hug and kiss an animal,” said Tan, who can be IDSA president-elect.
There are elementary schools which have chickens and geese as school pets. Some families keep chickens as pets. “Children also drink a lot of milk, including some children who drink unpasteurized raw milk,” she said.
The Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital in Chicago, where Tan works, is ready in case H5N1 causes serious infections in children. “We will treat it very similarly to pandemic flu. We have protocols for pandemic flu and COVID that can be adapted to H5N1 if that becomes a real problem.”
Brito added: “We have not implemented any specific emergency protocols, but we are constantly monitoring what is happening on the ground.”