datum (n=1)Bowman and colleagues have been following the disease since its emergence on dairy farms, reporting early this year on detection of the virus in retail milk supplies – at that time, 36.3% of samples tested were positive for H5N1 particles
36%! and
once a cow's infected, they produce high-viral-titer milk for a week-plus
So that raw milk, hmm? Hmm. THey found:
Bottle-feeding calves high-viral-titer milk collected from infected cows led to minimal virus detection and inflammatory signs in the calves, suggesting transmission through feeding doesn't spread enough material to establish an infection
but "doesn't spread enough" will eventually take hold in some (likely mostly immune suppressed) people, and eventually one of the many mutations or recombinations (common in influenza) will be a viral genome with human-human fitness.
Tests for transmission among cows through milk machinery or through feeding of calves, and between birds and cattle through shared indoor air, didn't show results of disease spread
isn't very reassuring in the context of
viral particle inoculations into individual cow teats, where mammary glands are located.
Results showed that the smallest dose of 10 particles resulted in productive infection but fewer clinical signs compared to higher doses, as well as shedding of milk containing high concentrations of viral particles
h/t you know who you are
Giuseppe Michieli
Betty C. Jung
Helen Branswell
