New York, December 14 (IANS). Scientists have warned that influenza or flu virus remains alive for five days in raw milk kept in the refrigerator.
The new study from Stanford University comes as an outbreak of bird flu in dairy cattle has raised concerns about the possibility of a new pandemic.
“This work highlights the potential risk of avian influenza transmission from raw milk consumption and the importance of milk pasteurization,” said senior author Alexandria Bohm, of the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability and Stanford School of Engineering.
Proponents of raw milk claim that it contains more beneficial nutrients, enzymes and probiotics than pasteurized milk. It may boost immunity and gastrointestinal diseases.
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has linked raw milk to more than 200 diseases. It warned that germs such as E. coli and Salmonella present in raw milk pose ‘serious’ health risks, especially to children, the elderly, pregnant women and people with weakened immunity.
The study, published in the journal General Environmental Science and Technology Letters, detected the persistence of a strain of human influenza virus in raw cow’s milk at normal refrigeration temperatures. Observed that the flu virus named H1N1 PR8 remained alive in milk and remained infectious for five days.
“The persistence of infectious influenza virus in raw milk for several days raises concerns about potential transmission routes. This virus could contaminate surfaces and other environmental materials within dairy facilities,” said Mengyang Zhang, co-lead author of the study. “, which may pose a risk to animals and humans.”
Specifically, the researchers found that the RNA molecules of the flu virus, which carry genetic information and do not pose a health risk, remained present in raw milk for at least 57 days.
By comparison, pasteurization completely destroyed infectious influenza in milk and reduced the amount of viral RNA by about 90 percent, but did not completely eliminate the RNA.
According to the study authors, these findings make it clear that surveillance systems need to be improved, especially as bird flu continues to spread among cattle.
–IANS
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