How Now Brown Cow

The next big pandemic threat that scientists hope to prevent is the H5N1 avian influenza virus. The same virus has infected more than 200 dairy cow herds in at least 14 states. And as of this recording, 16n people have tested positive for the virus. All but one farm worker had direct contact with infected animals. And the one case in Missouri with no animal contact is still untraceable. The concern is that as this virus has become more adept at spreading among dairy cows and as more farmworkers get the virus, it could mutate to infect humans easily.  

The virus was first identified in the 1990s in Southern China’s farm birds. Since then, it has become the dominant strain of bird flu in bird populations worldwide. Millions of wild and domestic birds have died and three years ago, it began infecting chickens in the US and eventually, dairy cows. As for humans, the first human deaths were reported in Hong Kong in 1997.  Overall, nearly 900 human infections worldwide have been reported with more than half being fatal.   

Even with this knowledge, some people still drink raw milk. Most commercial milk is pasteurized which heats milk to high temperatures killing pathogens such as viruses including H5N1 flu virus. Scientists are closely monitoring the spread of H5N1, and we hope we won’t have to face the threat of another epidemic or worse, pandemic.