@PacificNic @Edelruth @NilaJones
From what I understand, so far H5N1 contaminated milk has been extremely viscous. I think the lack of concern is two-fold. One, pasteurization. Two, what they've seen so far wouldn't be palatable to people.
@PacificNic @Edelruth @NilaJones
Well, so much for #2 it seems. I guess not all of it's been too viscous to make it to pasteurization and then the market.
@PacificNic @Edelruth @NilaJones
The updates to this article add some details that I hadn't seen previously, as well.
https://www.science.org/content/article/u-s-government-hot-seat-response-growing-cow-flu-outbreak
@PacificNic @Edelruth @NilaJones
And one more interesting one, from @HelenBranswell with something I hadn't seen elsewhere yet.
"The genetic sequence from the human case, which occurred on an unidentified farm in Texas, is sufficiently different from the cattle sequences that it can’t be easily linked to them, he said. The differences suggest that the individual was either infected in a separate event — maybe not via a cow, but through contact with infected wild birds — or that there might have been another line of viruses in cattle early on and it has since died out."
https://www.statnews.com/2024/04/23/h5n1-bird-flu-genetic-analysis/
🇨🇦 😷
From that science.org article: "A knowledgeable source who asked not to be identified says cattle that were healthy when they left a Texas farm appear to have brought the virus to a North Carolina farm. That raises the possibility that many cattle are infected but asymptomatic"
Well, yes. That happens. WHO did a warning in 2018, about a bird flu spreading among chickens in Asia, that was contagious before symptoms. 1/
@PacificNic @Edelruth @NilaJones @HelenBranswell
(I think it was another strain of flu, not this one.)
WHO said it would be necessary, if you bought new chickens, to keep them separated from the rest of your flock for a couple weeks and watch carefully in case they develop symptoms, before you let them join the main flock.
Which we could do with cows. There are more choices than 'never move cows between herds' and 'let the virus spread'.
2/2
@BE
That's concerning.
@PacificNic @Edelruth @NilaJones @HelenBranswell
@BE @PacificNic @NilaJones
OMG.