The World Health Organization’s chief scientist last week urged the world to keep a closer eye on the H5N1 virus that causes bird flu, CNN reported at the time.
Jeremy FarrarBritish medical researcher and chief scientist at the WHO since 2023, believes that it is of great concern that bird flu is spreading among cattle in the United States.
There is no evidence yet that the virus can spread between humans, but in the past two years an increasing number of mammals have been infected with the virus, suggesting that it is seeking new hosts and moving closer to us humans.
Found in milk
On Tuesday, the US Food and Drug Administration, the FDA, said it had detected particles of the H5N1 virus in milk bought at grocery stores, but the agency maintains that the milk is safe to drink.
The FDA said it believes the virus particles found in the milk were detected by very sensitive laboratory tests and are likely remnants of viruses killed when the milk was pasteurized.
The agency said it does not believe the virus particles can infect humans, but that additional tests are being conducted, just in case.
“So far we have not seen anything that would change our assessment that the commercial milk supply is safe. Results from several studies will be made available in the next few days to weeks,” the FDA said, according to CNN.
Tags: virus bird flu discovered milk
