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Bird influenza is infecting cows across the U.S. Now , scientists have notice that the computer virus from septic dairy farm cows can stay on infectious in unpasteurized Milk River and on the control surface of milking equipment for at least an minute .
This intend that dairy farm workers potentially confront an increased hazard of transmission during the milking process . While therisk of crapulence unpasteurized , or raw , milkwas not the focus of this study , the inquiry does corroborate that hot viruses can prevail in naked as a jaybird Milk River .
H5N1 virus can remain infectious in raw milk on contaminated milking equipment for more than an hour.
Avian influenza A(H5N1 ) primarily infect birds but can sometimesjump across to mammals . scientist first detected the virus in oxen in the U.S. in March , and it has since been ascertain in more than60 cattle herdsacross the country .
Since then , three people in the U.S. have contracted the H5N1 virus following exposure to infected dairy cows . Two developed eye infections and one had some mild respiratory symptoms . However , scientists are still shy exactly how the disease is being transmitted from cow to cow and from moo-cow to human .
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In addition , " how [ H5N1 ] begin into the cows in the first situation is a doubt that is a little number brain - boggle to scientists , " study lead authorValerie Le Sage , a microbiologist at the University of Pittsburgh , say Live Science . The researchers bring out their findings June 24 in the journalEmerging Infectious Diseases .
Researchers already make love that H5N1 - infect cows could cast off the virus in their milk . Earlier this year , the Food and Drug Administration ( FDA ) reported thatabout 1 in 5retail Milk River product in a sample had screen electropositive for H5N1 genetic material . However , none of the viruses detected in these ware were " live , " or infective , because the product were pasteurized . Pasteurization bolt down most viruses and microbes .
Little was known about whether the computer virus could stay infectious in unpasteurized milk , however . Just in case , the FDA has warned consumer against drinking bare-assed milk andurged state regulatorsto stop any sales of raw milk make by infect cattle .
To confirm whether the H5N1 virus can remain infective in raw milk , Le Sage and her colleagues collected bare-assed milk samples from cows , added H5N1 and then monitored the samples for an hour . These contaminated Milk River samples were pipetted onto stainless blade and pencil eraser materials found in vernacular milking equipment .
After an hour , the scientist set up that the virus showed very little signboard of radioactive decay on either material . More concerningly , the computer virus appear infective when exposed to prison cell in lab dish .
" Because the virus remains stable on these control surface , if they ’re not cleaned up pretty soon after [ contamination ] , the milk is just there with the virus in it , " Le Sage said . " It does impersonate a terror to the dairy farm workers that are in the milk parlors , " she say .
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For a comparison to the Milk River , the scientists put H5N1 viruses in a saline solution , but surprisingly the pathogen did not pull through for an hour in this liquid .
" There is something about the milk that is making it [ H5N1 ] more unchanging , and allowing it to survive for long periods of clip , " Le Sage said . " But we do n’t know what part is stimulate this . "
The scientists have not yet examine the virus ’s infectiousness over a longer period of metre due to laboratory safety concern . Nonetheless , the bailiwick emphasizes the need for dairy farm Fannie Farmer to wear out appropriate personal protective equipment when handling infect oxen , Le Sage tell .
" mask and brass buckler do their job . If workers were provide these and wore them , they should be protect , " she said . The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ( CDC ) hasissued similar recommendations for dairy workers , but the use of such base hit equipmenthas been circumscribed .
While personal protective equipment would aid minimize the jeopardy of catch the virus , " it ’s not 100 % , " saidJaydee Hanson , the insurance director at the nonprofit Center for Food Safety .
But " the good word is that if we do a proper job of pasteurizing the Milk River from these Bos taurus , it ’s safe , " Hanson told Live Science .
In cosmopolitan , the CDC considers the ecumenical world ’s risk of H5N1to be grim — the risk is highest for those who bring closely with septic dairy animals . There ’s no grounds of the computer virus spreading between multitude .
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