United States: State health officials are warning the public after the bird flu virus was detected in raw milk from a dairy farm in Central California.
The contaminated sample was taken from a batch of cream-top whole raw milk produced and packaged at a Fresno County farm, as stated by the California Department of Public Health on Sunday.
More about the news
In response to the request made by the state and to prevent the further spread of the problem, the company has come up with a voluntary recall of the product in question.
The county officials called stores on Friday to warn and urge them to remove the product from shelves, USA Today reported.
The test results were tested positive last Saturday at the California Animal Health and Food Safety Laboratory System UC Davis.
What more are the experts suggesting?
Customers should return any remaining product to the retail point of purchase as soon as possible.
To date, there are no confirmed diseases associated with the contaminated milk. After the initial detections of bird flu in the state’s dairy cows in August, top officials stated that testing of raw milk from farms was conducted weekly by the California Department of Food and Agriculture.
According to the Santa Clara County Public Health laboratory, testing of raw milk products is underway as a “second line of consumer protection,” USA Today reported.
The developments prompted the announcement just several days after the state Department of Health revealed that a child in Alameda County in the East Bay contracted the bird flu virus but never came into contact with infected poultry.
It is still regarded as a ‘possible’ case until it is further tested and corroborated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, added the state’s officials in a release issued on November 19.
Avian flu is an illness that originates from a group of viruses related to the flu, specifically those affecting birds.
Low pathogenic avian influenza (LPAI) and HPAI are prevalent in domestic poultry, while LPAI is not easily transmissible between humans.
HPAI can be easily transmitted, increasing the risks. LPAI viruses are known to cause or manifest mild or no illness in affected birds, while HPAI leads to severe illness with a high rate of mortality in birds.