Picture by Getty / Futurism
Uncooked milk fanatics are lifeless set on exposing themselves to the H5N1 aviary flu virus by ingesting contaminated and unpasteurized cow milk, the Los Angeles Times reports.
Mark McAfee, who based the Uncooked Milk Institute, informed the newspaper that he is been getting inundated with calls from “prospects asking for H5N1 milk as a result of they need immunity from it.”
It is a weird actuality that flies within the face of a wealth of scientific proof. We have recognized about pasteurization’s skill to fend off germs and different pathogens for properly over 100 years.
However that hasn’t stopped a gaggle of uncooked milk fanatics from looking for out untreated dairy of their seek for purported immune system advantages.
It is an particularly silly concept contemplating there’s so much we nonetheless do not know in regards to the present unfold of the H5N1 virus. The primary incident of the virus breaking out in dairy cows within the US was reported in March. In accordance to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there have been infections in mammals throughout Asia, North America, South America, and Europe.
Whereas scientists suspect it could be attainable for the virus to be transmitted from mammal to mammal, the danger to people continues to be not completely understood. Given the broad geographic unfold, the CDC suggests there might be an “enhance in sporadic human infections ensuing from chook and animal exposures,” however that “the present danger to most of the people from chook flu viruses is low.”
In different phrases, deliberately looking for out being contaminated by the virus by ingesting uncooked milk — one thing the CDC expressly advises against — is a nasty concept.
“Deliberating consuming uncooked milk within the hope of turning into resistant to avian influenza is enjoying Russian roulette along with your well being,” UC Davis researcher Michael Payne told the LA Times. “Intentionally attempting to contaminate your self with a recognized pathogen flies within the face of all medical information and customary sense.”
The virus was detected in 36 dairy cattle herds throughout 9 US states, however scientists have but to seek out any proof of the virus surviving in any pasteurized milk samples.
To date, there’s been one case of a dairy employee in Texas who was contaminated. His signs did not lengthen beyond a moderate case of pink eye.
“Each time it will get a brand new mammalian host species, like cows, there’s extra danger of human transmission and diminished human immunity,” Boston College environmental epidemiologist Jessica Leibler told Nature.
One research additionally examined lifeless barn cats at dairies in Texas and Kansas that have been contaminated by the virus, suggesting that uncooked milk could also be harmful to different mammals. The analysis is similar to another study through which cats have been contaminated with the virus.
“Whereas there have been no recognized circumstances of human transmission of H5N1 from uncooked milk, it’s actually conceivable that it may occur, and it is a extremely deadly virus not only for cats however for people too,” stated American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Infectious Illnesses chair Sean O’Leary stated in a recent statement.
In brief, ingesting uncooked dairy milk is as dangerous of an concept as ever. Whereas we nonetheless do not know the precise dangers concerned, it is a particularly ill-advised strategy to grow to be immune — if that is even attainable within the first place.
Extra on the avian flu: Polar Bear Dies From Bird Flu
