#Migrant workers face disproportionate risk, compared to general population. According to Amy Liebman, chief program officer Migrant Clinicians Network, these workers make up the bulk of the agricultural and food processing industries. They also are more likely to lack affordable access to health care, and may hesitate to report symptoms if it means not working.
The institute's founder, Mark McAfee, told the Los Angeles Times this weekend that his customers are, in fact, specifically requesting raw milk from #H5N1-infected #cows. According to McAfee, his customers believe, without evidence, that directly drinking high levels of the #avianinfluenza#virus will give them immunity to the deadly pathogen
Because on Apr 12, just 10 days after CDC published "Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza A(H5N1) Virus in Animals: Interim Recommendations for Prevention, Monitoring, and Public Health Investigations" that said:
"...should avoid unprotected direct physical contact or close exposure w/sick or dead birds or other animals, carcasses, feces,
milk
or litter from sick birds or other animals potentially infected or confirmed to be infected w/ HPAI A(#H5N1) virus."
"Raw milk enthusiasts are doubling down on the claimed benefits and safety of their favorite elixir, and say the government warnings are nothing more than “fearmongering.”" 🙄 #h5n1#hpai#birdflu#milk
👀 "Mark McAfee, founder of Fresno’s Raw Farm and the Raw Milk Institute, said his phone has been ringing off the hook with “customers asking for H5N1 milk because they want immunity from it.”" #h5n1#hpai#birdflu#milk
With #H5N1#birdflu spreading amongst dairy cows, one of the most important things to think about right now is what would need to happen for this virus to actually start a pandemic.
I'm on a train, so a brief thread...
#BirdFlu#H5N1#PublicHealth: "Over the past four years, a silent pandemic has been raging. One in which the death toll is believed to number in the hundreds of millions, but which has received remarkably little attention until now.
The pandemic in question is bird flu, the H5N1 strain of influenza, which since 2020 has moved far beyond the avian world and into mammals ranging from dairy cattle to domestic pets, and species that live on our doorsteps, such as foxes. The virus’s presence has been detected on every continent, even Antarctica. While it has yet to evolve the capability of spreading between humans, alarm bells were raised last month after a dairy farm worker in Texas contracted H5N1, seemingly from cattle.
It would appear to be the first known case of bird flu jumping to humans from another mammal. “There is increasing concern at the scientific and public health levels,” says Dr Gregory Poland, director of the Mayo Clinic’s vaccine research group, who has previously compared the rising infection rates among animals to “the rumbles prior to an earthquake”."
In the U.S, at least 23 cats have been infected with H5N1 bird flu & 10 have died. Cats are believed to be highly vulnerable to this strain of bird flu. Don’t let your cats drink unpasteurized milk!:)