Bird flu in cattle, Bird flu | Research: Cows with bird flu can be infected through milk

American veterinarians investigated unexplained deaths of cats on a dairy farm in Texas. The conclusion was that the cats were infected with bird flu through raw milk they had received from the cow.

Raw milk is milk straight from the cow that has not been processed in any way.

According to the website Dairy Report, this shows that bird flu in cows can infect other animals through their milk. Generally, cats tend to become infected with bird flu through contact with sick birds. This will be the first time cases of illness have been linked to milk.

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Compared samples

The samples from the dead cats were compared with samples from cattle that were also infected. It showed that the same virus was found in both species, as well as in the raw milk.

While the infected dairy cows had mild symptoms, more than half of the cats died.

The research shows that you should only consume milk that has been treated, i.e. pasteurized, says Edward Liu, MD, head of infectious diseases at Hackensack Meridian Jersey Shore University Medical Center in New Jersey.

– I can’t think of any reason to drink raw milk, he says to Fox News.

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Person became infected

It was in March that bird flu was detected in dairy cows in the USA. That cows were infected did not come as a surprise to the Norwegian Food Safety Authority.

– The surprising thing is that it has arrived in several states in the USA for cattle, at least four states. One wonders whether infection has occurred from cow to cow. It is a risk, if one is not prepared for this when it enters a cattle population, chief veterinarian at the Norwegian Food Safety Authority, Ole-Herman Tronerud told the Nation.

One person is also said to have been infected by bird flu in the USA. It is suspected that the person was infected by cattle.

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The World Health Organization is concerned

The World Health Organization believes that the infection to humans is of enormous concern.

– The big concern is, of course, that sick ducks and chickens, as well as more and more mammals, will infect people, and that the virus will then be able to spread from person to person, said the organisation’s chief researcher Jeremy Farrar at a press conference in April.

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WHO on bird flu in humans: “Immensely worrying”

Although there is currently no evidence that bird flu spreads between people, over the past 20 years, 889 cases have been registered in a total of 23 countries. Of these, 463 people died. This corresponds to a mortality rate of 52 percent.