WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - A recent lab experiment found that milk from cows infected by bird flu virus has the potential to spread the illness, especially if taken raw.
Researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Texas A&M Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory conducted experiments where they gave raw milk from an infected cow to five mice.
The findings, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, stated that the mice started showing signs of sickness from the next day. Researchers found traces of the virus on mice's trachea, nasal passages and lungs.
In another series of experiments, researchers pasteurized the milk to a level where the virus became undetectable, but it still infected incubated chicken eggs.
'Raw milk is unsafe at any speed, and the notion that you could protect yourself against H5 infection by consuming it is erroneous. There are there are much safer ways to protect oneself namely avoiding raw milk,' CDC Principal Deputy Director Dr. Nirav Shah warned during a press meet.
Recently, a farmworker in Michigan became the second person to get infected with bird flu, also detected in cows across nine states.
However, scientists and public health officials have assured that the risk to the general public is low.
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