Avian flu or H5N1 has been noticed at dozens of dairy farms in the United States and Canadian specialists are urging observation on the north side of the border. We should be aggressively observing for it, said Dr. Isaac Bogoch, infectious diseases expert at Toronto’s University Health System. Bogoch says the quantity and variety of mammals that have been infected by H5N1 this year has soared intensely. If more animals are infected, the disease can noticeably change and be more willingly spread between mammals, warns Bogoch.
Matthew Miller, from the McMaster Immunology Research Centre in Hamilton, informs that the system that kept bird flu mostly in birds has unexpectedly made the evolution to spread more easily in mammals, extending from dogs and cats, cows, goats, and sea lions. However, it Does not indicate it will certainly become prevalent in humans. It’s not unavoidable, says Miller. But the danger, I would say, is deep. Miller says that no disease has triggered more pandemics in current history than influenza, mentioning the Spanish flu pandemic in 1918, and flu epidemics in 1959, 1968, 1977, and most recently, swine flu in 2009.
The current dairy farm eruptions in the U.S. have encouraged food examinations in ground beef and grocery store milk, with the Food and Drug Administration discovering that one in five dairy samples(opens in a new tab) verified positive for H5N1 elements. Bogoch points out the virus remains are not able to cause infection in humans. But cats, fed raw milk at U.S. dairy farms, had a high death rate, with close to 50% of the cats who confirmed positive for H5N1 dying due to the virus. U.S. and Canadian dairy administrators say sterilization extinguishes the pathogens in milk and they inform consumers not to consume raw milk.
Canadian dairy manufacturers already follow some of the highest biosecurity standards in the world. It should be pointed out that only milk from healthy animals is approved for circulation and human consumption, Dairy Farmers of Canada stated. Miller says investigation in Canadian poultry farms is well recognized but requires active observation brought in for dairy operations before we start sighting human cases of avian flu. I think methodical surveillance of cattle in Canada is essential at this time, given what we know the dangers are in the U.S.
