Recent reports reveal that bird flu has been spreading among cows and traces of the virus have been detected in milk sold in U.S. stores. This has raised concerns about the potential risks to human health. Questions have arisen about the virus’s ability to infect mammals and whether consuming this milk can lead to bird flu transmission to humans.
Fortunately, the likelihood of contracting bird flu from pasteurized milk is low.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration disclosed on April 23 that genetic material from the bird flu virus was found in retail milk products. However, these are only fragments of the virus’s RNA and not complete infectious viruses, as clarified by Michael Osterholm, a leading expert in infectious diseases at the University of Minnesota. He reassures that the pasteurization process effectively eliminates any virus particles present in the milk, ensuring that there is no risk of ingesting infectious material.
2024-04-25 16:10:27
Originally published on www.sciencenews.org