Pasteurization is pretty effective at killing stuff. That's literally what it's meant to do.
Mutations and transmission require a vast array of infections to net appreciable results. I don't think the rare raw milk drinkers will likely be a huge problem.
Do they even sell raw milk in stores? I assume you need to get this straight from a farm? And I’m a bit shocked if 4.4 percent of the US is getting their milk from farms. That’s like what ~12million people?
They did at whole foods like 15 years ago when I worked there. They pulled it from the shelves I believe because of some new law. A handful of our customers got super mad about it.
Most people get them from farmers' markets. There are supposedly health advantages to it, but I'd assume this would be the case from buying from a smaller responsible farm over a corporate factory farm anyhow—regardless of whether it's pasteurized or not.
Yes, but the idea of pasteurisation is to get the amount of surviving microorganisms down to less than one in a million or better (depending on local definitions). The human body can then easily take care of the few remaining viruses.
Any kind of pasteurisation is not about eliminating 100% of MOs. It is always a compromise, but also always on the side of "better safe than sorry".
Mammal-to-mammal transmission raises new concerns about the virus's ability to spread.
On March 16, cows on a Texas dairy farm began showing symptoms of a mysterious illness now known to be H5N1 bird flu. Their symptoms were nondescript, but their milk production dramatically dropped and turned thick and creamy yellow. The next day, cats on the farm that had consumed some of the raw milk from the sick cows also became ill. While the cows would go on to largely recover, the cats weren't so lucky. They developed depressed mental states, stiff body movements, loss of coordination, circling, copious discharge from their eyes and noses, and blindness. By March 20, over half of the farm's 24 or so cats died from the flu.
...
The early outbreak data from the Texas farm suggests the virus is getting better and better at jumping to mammals, and data from elsewhere shows the virus is spreading widely in its newest host. On March 25, the US Department of Agriculture confirmed the presence of H5N1 in a dairy herd in Texas, marking the first time H5N1 had ever been known to cross over to cows. Since then, the USDA has tallied infections in at least 34 herds in nine states: Texas, Kansas, Michigan, New Mexico, Idaho, Ohio, South Dakota, North Carolina, and Colorado.
I think the story goes beyond not drinking raw cow milk and pasteurization at this point. Behind the scenes there is def 'concern'. The first time cattle were known to ever be infected was March of this year.
“The risk here of something going from one or two sporadic cases to becoming something of international concern, it’s not insignificant,” CDC Principal Deputy Director Nirav Shah said at a Council on Foreign Relations event on Wednesday. “We’ve all seen how a virus can spread around the globe before public health has even had a chance to get its shoes on. That’s a risk and one that we have to be mindful of.”
https://www.politico.com/news/2024/05/01/bird-flu-outbreak-cows-biden-00155452
Hahahaha! Been a triathlete for 6 years and a distance runner for 20. Not hurting for protein or calcium at all after dropping cow dairy and most meat (I occasionally have fish 1-3 times a week). Went off eggs a few years, too, and was fine. There's so many alternatives these days—even for people who don't have time to prepare/cook.