FRIDAY, June 28, 2024 (HealthDay News) -- The spread of H5N1 avian flu to dairy cows has health experts and many Americans on edge, and now a new study finds the virus stays viable on milking equipment for at least an hour. “Dairy cows have to be milked even if they are sick, and it has not been clear for how long the virus contained in residual milk from the milking process remains stable on the equipment,” said study lead author Valerie Le Sage . “It is concerning that the virus in unpasteurized milk can remain stable for hours and potentially infect farm workers or spread from animal to animal.
” Le Sage is a research assistant professor of microbiology and molecular genetics at the Center for Vaccine Research at the University of Pittsburgh. She and her team believe the findings underscore the need for dairy workers to wear personal protective equipment (PPE) at work, to cut down on their odds for infection. So far, there have been three known cases of human H5N1 infection linked to the current outbreak in dairy cows.
All three cases occurred among dairy workers with long and close exposures to infected animals. The illnesses were mild, but the fear among scientists is that H5N1 will mutate in a human to become easily transmitted between people, raising the specter of a new pandemic. H5N1 originated in birds but has now spread to many species of mammals, including seals, dolphins and cows.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is watching the situatio.