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The FDA confirmed that commercial milk and dairy products are still safe to serve and drink. Recent testing found viral fragments in grocery store milk - which doesn’t necessarily mean that there is active virus in milk. The PCR test they used can’t distinguish between inactive fragments and active virus, so further testing is needed to confirm, but most scientists are confident that pasteurization inactivates the virus so that it can’t make people sick. In fact, viral fragments are a sign that pasteurization did its job because it destroys the virus but doesn’t actually remove genetic material. The FDA is doing further testing now to see whether any of the samples might be infectious, but it may be days or weeks before we hear back. We’ll be honest: we’re left with a lot of uncertainty. But what this does mean is that there may be a lot more infected cows than we thought. Pair that with the recent report that there are asymptomatic cows in North Carolina, and we may be facing a much more widespread issue. Now more than ever, we recommend against consuming any raw (unpasteurized) dairy products. It might be time to start thinking about who will be on your company’s task force if there were to be a positive active viral test result in the mainstream dairy supply and what you’d do if there were supply disruptions or delays for testing of all dairy products before distribution. Feel free to reach out to ZHH for support in planning your response.
Sources: Washington Post, NY Times, STAT
Unfortunately, the answer appears to be more widespread than we thought, even just a few days ago. A study of 150 different milk products from stores around the Midwest found viral DNA in 58 samples. Experts don’t think they contain the live virus, which is what causes human infections. However, this data suggests that the H5N1 outbreak is likely far more widespread in dairy cows than the official counts indicate. The US Department of Agriculture has reported 33 herds in 8 states have tested positive for H5N1.
While the spread across dairy herds is concerning, the risk to humans from dairy cows and pasteurized milk is still very low. The bigger concern is that it greatly increases the chances for H5N1 to infect pigs, where it can more easily mutate and form hybrids with other flu viruses. The data on viral genome sequences released by the USDA suggest that the outbreak has been ongoing for much longer than we knew - probably since December 2023 and herds can be infectious with mild or no symptoms. We’ll continue to watch this closely.
Sources: STAT
Here’s the latest from the CDC: As of April 18th, 18 jurisdictions reported 125 measles cases: Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey, New York City, New York State, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Washington, and Chicago.
There have been 7 outbreaks (defined as 3 or more related cases) reported in 2024, and 69% of cases (86 of 125) are outbreak-associated. For comparison, 4 outbreaks were reported during 2023, and 48% of cases (28 of 58) were outbreak-associated. The age ranges are interesting, and the experts are looking at them carefully: only 46% are under 5 years old (57 cases), 22% (28) are 5-19 years old, and 40 cases (32%) are ages 20 and older. 54% have required hospitalization, mirroring the age range. Vaccination status was unknown in a majority of the cases, while 13% had received one dose of MMR vaccine and 5% had received two doses. In really good news, the City of Chicago, which has been a hotspot, reported no new cases this week.
Sources: CDC City of Chicago Dashboard