US Government Orders Nationwide Testing of Milk for Bird Flu to Stop the Virus's Spread (apnews.com) 135
"The U.S. government on Friday ordered testing of the nation's milk supply for bird flu," reports the Associated Press, "to better monitor the spread of the virus in dairy cows."
Raw or unpasteurized milk from dairy farms and processors nationwide must be tested on request starting Dec. 16, the Agriculture Department said. Testing will begin in six states — California, Colorado, Michigan, Mississippi, Oregon and Pennsylvania.
Officials said the move is aimed at "containing and ultimately eliminating the virus," known as Type A H5N1, which was detected for the first time in March in U.S. dairy cows. Since then, more than 700 herds have been confirmed to be infected in 15 states. "This will give farms and farmworkers better confidence in the safety of their animals and ability to protect themselves, and it will put us on a path to quickly controlling and stopping the virus' spread nationwide," Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said in a statement.
The risk to people from bird flu remains low, health officials said. Pasteurization, or heat treatment, kills the virus in milk, leaving it safe to drink... At least 58 people in the U.S. have been infected with bird flu, mostly farm workers who became mildly ill after close contact with infected cows, including their milk, or infected poultry.
Officials said the move is aimed at "containing and ultimately eliminating the virus," known as Type A H5N1, which was detected for the first time in March in U.S. dairy cows. Since then, more than 700 herds have been confirmed to be infected in 15 states. "This will give farms and farmworkers better confidence in the safety of their animals and ability to protect themselves, and it will put us on a path to quickly controlling and stopping the virus' spread nationwide," Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said in a statement.
The risk to people from bird flu remains low, health officials said. Pasteurization, or heat treatment, kills the virus in milk, leaving it safe to drink... At least 58 people in the U.S. have been infected with bird flu, mostly farm workers who became mildly ill after close contact with infected cows, including their milk, or infected poultry.
When you pry it from my cold dead hands. (Score:2)
Re:When you pry it from my cold dead hands. (Score:5, Funny)
You could have just called it a cowpaccino, therefore milk should go into it.
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Can we tackle the real issue? Adding milk to mask the taste of poorly roasted coffee beans.
Well yeah. Don't do that!
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No. You're thinking of his brother or nephew. The ones who regularly 'partied' with the people in question.
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Ice age (Score:1)
The rendered fat storage, marrow nutrients, liver nutrients could help get through an ice age again.
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Grain is for making baby plants, not humans
Oh good. (Score:5, Interesting)
But hey, at least we'll have the brain-wormed roadkill-eating anti-vaxx heroin-addict environmental lawyer running our national health response this time around - I'm sure that will be WAY better than the actual scientists and epidemiologists we had last time!
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Umm, yeah, "anything but mild flu symptoms". Until it's not. Gee, just like COVID, maybe?
Re: Oh good. (Score:2)
We were concerned about COVID-19 because of virus' relationship to SARS, it's transmissibility, and because both young and old people were dying in droves from it.
With bird flu, relatively healthy farm workers getting through it with mild symptoms is great news. But let's avoid spreading it into retirement homes and other places with vulnerable people.
Re: Oh good. (Score:2)
Re: Oh good. (Score:1)
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The one Canadian case saw a teenager in hospital in critical condition. https://bc.ctvnews.ca/testing-... [ctvnews.ca]
Not much info available due to privacy
Re:Oh good. (Score:5, Interesting)
The cows were probably destroyed to prevent other cows from getting it. The deal with viruses that cross species is, the more often they do it, the more adept they get at it. Bird flu infecting cows was amazing enough. The fact the virus then adapted itself to infect humans is also amazing.
Bird flu is highly infectious among birds - it's why entire flocks of chickens are destroyed when it's detected in one bird. Likely it's infectious among cows. And to prevent its spread to all cows, you destroy the infected cows so they don't pass it on.
Of course, humans are a different story, and it's unknown what effect it can have. Because a case in Canada has the teenager infected in a critically ill state [vancouversun.com]. So ill they cannot figure out where he got it from - he never visited any farm or other place. And he's too ill to even ask about it (in a coma).
How this will be handled will be interesting. Because chances are if cows are allowed with bird flu, their beef will be rejected, and if it's contagious, the entire US cattle industry would be decimated because no one would want US beef. On the other hand, it means US beef prices will collapse. So... cheaper beef?
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Who should I believe? The cited points from a high karma poster or the anonymous information from a low karma poster?
HOW DOES CRITICAL THINKING WORK!?!?!?!
/s
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The fact the virus then adapted itself to infect humans is also amazing.
No, it's just math.
("probability", to be precise)
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Why keep the cow alive to keep spreading virus?
Even in quarantine, it will spread virus to other cows and people.
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Currently, the mortality rate for bird flu is around ~50%. Of course, we don't know how many people have it and don't display symptoms or only very mild. However, if you need hospital treatment it's ~50%. For COVID-19 the figure was ~16%
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Currently, the mortality rate for bird flu is around ~50%. Of course, we don't know how many people have it and don't display symptoms or only very mild. However, if you need hospital treatment it's ~50%. For COVID-19 the figure was ~16%
Do you have a cite for that? I here about infections almost daily as Ag is huge in my area and so far dozens have been infected and no reported deaths. These folks are almost exclusively Hispanic and they as a group did not fair to well during Covid which would lead me to think they may be more susceptible than most but they are shrugging off Bird.
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The one person who tested positive in Canada is/was in critical condition, other poster said in a coma. https://bc.ctvnews.ca/testing-... [ctvnews.ca]
Haven't heard recent news about it.
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Bird flu is called bird flu because it is endemic in birds. Particularly chickens and pigs ... wait ... pigs, they are birds right?
Most bird flues jump to humans with no problems at all: that is why chicken farms, cull everything
And that is why in most countries breeding chickens an pigs on the same property is forbidden.
Kind of new is: this particular virus jumps on beef/cattle.
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The common problem is industrial animal farming of cows, pigs, chickens, etc.
When you put a lot of them close together in unsanitary, stressful conditions, the virus spreads and mutates and new strains emerge that spread to other animals.
Re: Oh good. (Score:3)
The real issue is birds are very hard to quarantine, and a strain of virus mutating to more easily infect mammals will, probably fairly quickly, hop a ride on migratory foul again south, where it will redistribute to the rest of the planet. That's what's happened in the past with regular bird flu. So controls based on country of origin will be pointless, outside of very immediate response. And depending on exactly how the virus is attacking cells there may be a LOT of wild mammalian reservoirs for it to hop
Re: Oh good. (Score:2)
Bird flu can be harmless in most people, and I assume the average farm hand is pretty active so healthy enough to not get affected too much. But we've also seen casualties from bird flu before, and we certainly don't want a repeat of Covid, so these precautions seem pretty sensible.
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The current H5N1 strain has about a 50% mortality rate if you get it from a bird. This seems to be much lower for people infected from cows, but gambling on it staying that way seems unwise, no?
Americans like to give China a lot of shit for "wet markets." Well, how big a gamble do you want to take so that some hippies can drink unpasterized milk?
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We had the first human case in Canada here in BC, the teenager hasn't been doing very good at all last I heard they were still in critical condition. Due to privacy not much info available.
https://bc.ctvnews.ca/testing-... [ctvnews.ca]
Re:Oh good. (Score:5, Insightful)
You forgot he's also a raw milk advocate, so yum. As for bird flu in milk, it'll all go away once they stop testing, like Trump wanted to do with COVID tests [thehill.com]:
“If we stop testing right now, we’d have very few cases, if any,”
#ArgumentOnlySuffersFromLogic
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The thing is I know (Score:1, Troll)
I don't know how you hang out on a science and technology forum and support Donald Trump but somehow lots of people do it. I guess it helps if you are really really really scared of trans girls. There was a survey that found Trump voters thought 27% of the country was trans. For reference the actual figure is 0.25%. so they we
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There's a ton of Trump supporters here on slashdot. I suspect they are just going to avoid this thread entirely or maybe peek in and blow a mod point or two voting somebody down.
I don't know how you hang out on a science and technology forum and support Donald Trump but somehow lots of people do it. I guess it helps if you are really really really scared of trans girls. There was a survey that found Trump voters thought 27% of the country was trans. For reference the actual figure is 0.25%. so they were only off by a factor of 100 or so.
Maybe they're just bad at Math -- also bad on a STEM heavy site. Similar with unfounded fears of Jewish people -- who only make up 2.4% of the U.S. and 0.2% of the World population.
Re:The thing is I know (Score:5, Funny)
Similar with unfounded fears of Jewish people -- who only make up 2.4% of the U.S. and 0.2% of the World population.
Well, sure, it's a small group - but it's a small group that has a space laser.
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... so I'm hoping that the "interesting" and "informative" mods I received were because people wanted to boost my karma (since "funny" doesn't do that) - versus believing there actually IS a Jewish space laser.
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I mainly still visit /. to laugh at the luddites afraid of anything invented after they turned 35.
Did Ya Read TFA? (Score:5, Insightful)
From TFA, "Under the federal order, dairy farmers and those who handle raw milk intended for pasteurization must provide samples of the milk on request for testing for bird flu."
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From TFA, "Under the federal order, dairy farmers and those who handle raw milk intended for pasteurization must provide samples of the milk on request for testing for bird flu."
If pasteurization is the process that kills the risk, then care to explain why milk intended for pasteurization is the target?
Seems like a pointless step intended to create a profit stream. A mandatory one.
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Because you can't test as easily for it has been killed by pasteurization and they want to know how wide-spread it is?
Are they testing the cows, or are they testing to see who can and cannot afford perpetual testing? If your theory were true, they would test ALL the cows. Not just the ones whose milk will be pasteurized. Cows spread the virus, not milk.
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It's a lot cheaper and simpler to sample a tanker full of milk then the hundreds of cows that it took to produce that tanker of milk. If they find the virus in the tanker, then they can test the individual cows or more likely as cheaper, a couple of cows in each herd.
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And you took the time to throw shade at a completely factual statement, for some reason.
Nothing that I said is disputed in any way, and is actually confirmed by the subject at hand in public reporting and sourced quotes.
Why do you want a roadkill eating anti-vaccination heroin addict environmental lawyer with a brain worm in charge of public health policy? Does that even sound like a good idea for a serious government to consider?
Does that sound like anything but a punchline to a bad joke?
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Re:Oh good. (Score:4, Informative)
I just caught part of a Senate hearing on the FDA. You missed a gem of Republican courage. Sen. Tuberville, Republican Dolt of Alabama, was questioning the FDA commissioner, Robert Califf. Califf was there with what appeared to be his chief scientist. Among the things Califf said was that FDA is not research organization.
Anyhow, Tuberville, in the guise of a wide-mouthed frog and very enthusiastically, was questioning why the FDA wasn't making American food companies sell healthy food. Califf informed him that there were several factors:
1. Budget: they couldn't hire the necessary number of inspectors.
2. The Covid crisis: this made working at FDA harder to justify because companies were hiring his staff, I forget the reason he had for that.
3. The Supreme Court: it gave companies people rights and that now, after the judiciary has been populated by Fascists (i.e., el Bunko appointees from the Federalist Society), companies could go whining to the Courts for relief from those awful FDA rules and find sympathetic judges.
4. Food companies: they had a lot of lobbying power and money and had no compulsion at all to make food healthy.
5. Budget again: there was no way he could compete with private companies and he didn't have the money to staff up even were the salaries equivalent.
Tommy Tuberville, in a Profile in Republican Courage, then did his imitation of a small-mouth frog, i.e., he promptly shut the hell up since he knows that la Presidente Elect''s henchmen, Elmo and Rama-lama-ding-dong, are angling to the cut the FDA's budget further. One thing we know about Tuberville is that he loves la Presidente.
Re: Oh good. (Score:1)
Would that be the "actual scientists and epidemiologists" we had around last time? The ones that can't tell the biological difference between women and men? The ones that stuck to the politically-motivated bullshit about covid coming from bats and not a lab, and then connived to silence anyone asking questions? The ones that sacrificed 2 years of elementary students educations needlessly when we KNEW they were unaffected by covid? The ones whip could do the math and see that even by 2021 the ifr was com
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By all means, don't engage the facts presented.
Just say "what a stupidhead!"
VERY persuasive, I must say.
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He could've worked for Stalin and blended right in
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
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If masks are indeed bullshit then tell the surgeon operating on you to skip it and save the hospital a few bucks.
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The death rate from covid was much higher among Republicans vs Democrats.
Turns out that listening to scientists worked out much better than listening to right-wing media.
https://www.pewresearch.org/po... [pewresearch.org]
https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/cov... [umn.edu]
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The evidence is very, very clear - vaccination rates correlated with political affiliation, and with fatality rates. It simply overwhelms any other demographic factor.
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Sweden had the most science-based approach and the best outcomes.
The UK and Sweden have among the worst per-capita COVID-19 mortality in Europe [nature.com]. . . The UK experienced the highest per-capita mortality (Table 1), followed closely by Sweden, with Denmark considerably lower.
Let me guess . . . you're Norwegian.
Kidding aside, I'm sure you are including overall excess deaths in subsequent years, after a vaccine was available and Sweden's herd had been thinned. Which is fair enough: Policy is policy and death is death, regardless of the cause
But note that Sweden's lower excess mortality was initially accompanied by heightened restrictions:
Alcohol sales were banned after 10pm, gatherings were limited to a maximum of eight people and some schools switched to online learning in response.[76]
On 7 December [2020], upper secondary schools in Sweden were switched to distance learning for pupils aged 16 or more. A week later the Stockholm regional disease control unit asked Stockholm's schools to also adopt distance learning for pupils aged 13–15,[77] which became possible on 11 January following a legal decree,[78] and on 18 December Stockholm Region began recommending face masks on public transport for the first time,[79] followed by national recommendations on 7 January,[80] with Sweden having previously been one of the few countries not to recommend them.[81] The health system in Stockholm became particularly overwhelmed, with 99% of intensive care beds full, and private sector staff called to stand in due to staff shortages.[17] Nevertheless, in January 2021 schools reopened.[82]
An independent commission released a report in December which criticized Sweden's approach for failing to protect care home residents by allowing the virus to become widespread.[83][84][85]
King Carl XVI Gustaf and Stefan Löfven both characterized Sweden's approach as a 'failure' in December 2020 due to the high number of deaths.
On 10 January 2021, around 10 months after the outbreak became serious, legislation was passed permitting more restrictions than was possible with existing laws. The new laws allowed limiting number of visitors to shops, in contradiction with previous advice, and the Prime Minister said that a general lockdown was being considered, although was not implemented.[89][90]
These changes weren't happening because Sweden had the best outcomes. Complain about eXpErTs all you like, but some states had a higher Covid [statista.com]
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The restrictions where "heightened" after 14months of COVID.
How stupid can one be?
Before that they had nearly no restrictions and thought: we as a heavy smoking country and heavy pub goers, can just ride out a lung disease!
Sweden has one of the highest death tolls per capita in the world. A joke for the "civilized world".
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If you read the summary, you'd realise that bird flu has spread to cows. A variant that can also infect humans
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RFK will ban testing and then there will be no cases of bird flu! Problem solved.
I believe the point being referenced was that last time he was in power, Trump's position on COVID was that we should stop testing, because if we didn't test we wouldn't have as many cases, and thus there would be no pandemic..
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What timeline is this?
We're in a timeline where someone has such a short attention span they can't even read to the end of the first sentence in the summary.
And here's a health tip for raw milk drinkers (Score:4, Funny)
If you do like the health benefit* of raw milk and sticking it to the evil big-milk megacorp then I recommend heating milk to around 165deg F, holding it at that temperature for under a minute and then putting your entire pan in the fridge.
That way you health benefit* of raw milk while also staying self to viruses.
*Note following this does not treat stupidity. But at least your milk will be safe to drink .
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I like to top off my raw milk with a healthy dollop of ivermectin - YUM!
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Think you missed the joke...
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Wouldn't it just be easier to prophylactically take ivermectin
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Under. Literally the pasturisation process commercially holds that temperature for only 15seconds. It's enough to kill milk born viruses without dramatically altering the milk.
Wouldn't it just be easier to prophylactically take ivermectin?
No because ivermectin doesn't treat the same things as pasteurisation. But if you want to talk "easy" then the simplest thing you can do is ... drink normal milk bought from the most convenient store you can find rather than going out of your way to take silly risks.
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I was making a joke not giving medical advice, or indeed any advice meant to be taken seriously. Lighten up. If you don't get the joke let me spell it out for you:
"If you don't want to get sick drinking raw milk, drink normal milk."
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The viral infection you get riding a bus is likely to make you sneeze and take a headache tablet. The infection you get drinking raw milk is likely to put you in hospital. There's a reason we in the west decided to start pasteurising milk, and it's not because we think you shouldn't be able to enjoy a certain flavour.
Why do I get the feeling you're also unvaxxed...
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Did you eat a lot of paint chips as a child?
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The Assassination attempts aren't over yet.
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Just another nail ... (Score:2)
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as if the water requirements to grow almond milk make it any better.
Re: Mildly Corrupt. (Score:2)
Remind us again, how heavily subsidized is the dairy industry in the US?
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Remind us again, how heavily subsidized is the dairy industry in the US?
Remind me again how much RAW milk, isn’t part of that packaged and pasteurized industry? Remind me again how many citizens DIE every year from legal food additives that are illegal in other countries for valid reason? Remind me again how “mildly ill” justifies nationwide mass testing, most likely at the expense of every farmer?
Smells a lot like another mandatory Government division of taxpayer grift to permanently oversee the competition until it dries up under the weight of “neces
sheeps milk, goats milk (Score:1)
Pasteurization (Score:1)
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You would think pasteurization would kill off the virus or pretty much anything else.
It does.
It was even mentioned in the summary
Can't be real (Score:2)
So what's the plan here ? (Score:1)
They going to start murdering cows by the millions like they do birds when they detect an outbreak ?
I'm also shocked I haven't heard anyone say the infamous phrase yet: " Two weeks to flatten the curve " :|
58 people? (Score:2)
It's hard to imagine anything more statistically insignificant. Why are we doing anything at this point? And there was no clear definition as to whether it was from milk or poultry.
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Because at the moment, the mortality rate of hospitalized patients is running over 3 times that of COVID-19, which ran at about 16%.
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That is a useless comparison when covid numbers didn't bother to discern the difference between died with and died from.
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That is a useless comparison when covid numbers didn't bother to discern the difference between died with and died from.
You can't reliably distinguish with from from, especially without an autopsy -- and sometimes not even with an autopsy.
If you want to analyze the COVID death toll, the best way to do it is to look at excess deaths.
Re: Milk is poison anyway (Score:2)
Yes. And 5G spreads covid. And the frogs are all changing their pronouns. Go back to sleep grandpa.
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You may be serious. You are not correct.
Re:It would be just like the dems (Score:4, Insightful)
To manufacture a crisis that cuts off the availability and drive up the cost of milk, eggs, cheese so they can spend a year pointing at it and mocking conservatives for not bringing the price of food down.
And it would be just like conservatives to purposely die by the thousands of a preventable disease just to own the dems.