Latest news with #Diel
Yahoo
17-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Bird flu virus may survive aging process in raw milk cheese
There's a new reason to steer clear of raw cheese: New research shows it can harbor the infectious bird flu virus for months. "There is a risk of infection," lead study author Dr. Diego Diel, an associate professor at Cornell University, told CNN. "It obviously depends on the dose, how much of that contaminated product is ingested." Though it's illegal to sell raw milk across state lines, since 1949 it's been legal to sell raw milk cheese provided it has been aged for at least 60 days. That period allows for development of natural acids and enzymes that have been thought to destroy pathogens. The new research -- funded by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration -- demonstrates that this aging alone may not inactivate the H5N1 bird flu virus. The same team had previously shown that the H5N1 virus stayed infectious for up to eight weeks in refrigerated raw milk. "The protein and fat content in the cheese and milk provide a good environment for the virus to survive at refrigeration temperature," Diel said. For the study, his team made mini cheeses that they laced with the H5N1 virus. The cheeses were produced at three pH levels, from the least acidic, 6.6, to the most acidic, 5.0. Researchers then injected samples of the cheeses into fertilized chicken eggs to see how long any virus able of causing infection remained. For the first seven days, levels of virus remained high, then fell in the two least acidic cheeses. Significantly, levels remained infectious for the full two-month aging period. "Our study demonstrates that HPA1 H5N1 virus exhibits remarkable stability throughout the cheese making process," the authors wrote, suggesting that making raw milk cheese more acidic may make it safer to eat. No live virus was detected in the most acidic cheese (pH 5.0). Other research has shown that pasteurization inactivates the virus. Seema Lakdawala, an associate professor of microbiology and immunology at Emory University who also studies H5N1 transmission, reviewed the findings. "We have also observed that milk can change the pH needed to inactivate the virus," Lakdawala told CNN, adding that "a much lower pH than is normal is needed to inactivate the virus." Despite the new findings, the head of the U.S. health system, has said food doesn't present a bird flu risk. "The disease is not passed through food so you cannot get it -- as far as we know, you cannot get it from an egg or milk or meat from an infected animal," Robert F. Kennedy Jr., secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, told Fox News last week. While there are no confirmed cases of people being sickened from eating or drinking foods that contain viruses, including raw milk cheese, dairy workers have been infected when raw milk splashed their faces or eyes. Diel told CNN it's not entirely clear whether people can be infected by consuming contaminated food and that his study was not designed to answer that question. The findings are posted on the preprint server bioRxiv. Until it is published in a peer-reviewed journal, findings should be considered preliminary. The FDA also posted the findings on Friday along with early results from an ongoing sampling study of raw cheese announced in December. Of 110 cheese samples taken from stores across the country, 96 tested negative for live virus as well as inactive viral particles. The agency said that indicates they were probably not made with contaminated milk. Results of 14 samples are pending. "The FDA is confident that pasteurization is effective at inactivating H5N1, and that the commercial, pasteurized milk supply is safe," the agency said in a statement. Checking the product label may help -- but it's not foolproof, however. "While there is no express Federal requirement for the labeling of cheeses to disclose on the ingredient list whether the milk used in manufacture was raw or pasteurized, many cheeses do disclose on the ingredient list (or elsewhere on the product label) if the milk used is pasteurized or raw," the statement said. "The FDA is not aware of any H5N1 illnesses to date from the consumption of aged raw milk cheese products." More information There's more about H5N1 bird flu at the Cleveland Clinic. Copyright © 2025 HealthDay. All rights reserved.
CNN
15-03-2025
- Health
- CNN
H5N1 bird flu virus is infectious in raw milk cheese for months, posing risk to public health, study shows
Raw cheese made with milk from dairy cattle infected with bird flu can harbor infectious virus for months and may be a risk to public health, according to a new study from researchers at Cornell University that was funded by the US Food and Drug Administration. Raw milk cheeses are those made with milk that hasn't been heat-treated, or pasteurized, to kill germs. Although federal law prohibits the sale of raw milk across state lines, sales of raw milk cheese are legal nationwide as long as it's aged at least 60 days before landing on store shelves. This requirement, which has been in place since 1949, is thought to cut the risk of contamination, since it allows development of natural acids and enzymes, which were believed to kill off pathogens. The new study shows that this aging process may not inactivate the H5N1 virus, however, and it underscores the risk of consuming raw or undercooked foods during the bird flu outbreak, which continues to infect dairy cattle, poultry and a growing number of other animal species. The same group of researchers previously found that H5N1 virus remained infectious in refrigerated raw milk for up to eight weeks. Dr. Diego Diel, who led the study, says he thinks the virus may be so stable in milk and cheese because it's protected by the complex matrix of molecules around it. 'The protein and fat content in the cheese and milk provide a good environment for the virus to survive at refrigeration temperature,' said Diel, an associate professor of virology at Cornell. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., secretary of the US Department of Health and Human Services, has said food doesn't pose a bird flu risk. 'The disease is not passed through food, so you cannot get it – as far as we know, you cannot get it from an egg or milk or meat from an infected animal,' Kennedy told Fox News in an interview that aired Tuesday. But that's only partly true. Cats and other animals have been infected by raw cow's milk and raw pet food, and there have been at least three confirmed human infections in which investigators were unable to determine the source of the person's exposure to the H5N1 virus. There have been no confirmed reports of people getting sick from eating or drinking bird-flu contaminated foods, including raw milk cheese, but dairy workers have been infected by getting splashed with raw milk in their faces or eyes. It's still not entirely clear whether humans can be infected by eating or drinking contaminated food, Diel said, noting that his study wasn't really designed to answer that question. 'I do think it is possible. There is a risk of infection,' he said. 'It obviously depends on the dose, how much of that contaminated product is ingested.' It may also depend on the strain of virus in the milk or cheese. Diel and his team tested the stability of the B3.13 virus, which originally infected cattle in the US in March 2024. B3.13 has caused only mild disease in people. However, a new strain, D1.1, which has been associated with some severe human cases, has also crossed into cattle, further increasing the risk. For the study, the researchers made mini cheeses with milk they spiked with H5N1 virus. They made these cheeses at three pH levels: 6.6, 5.8 and the most acidic formula, 5.0. The researchers then tested the cheeses over time to see whether any virus capable of infecting cells remained. They injected samples into fertilized chicken eggs, considered the gold standard test. Levels of the virus remained high for the first seven days after the cheese was made and then dropped a bit in the cheeses produced at pH levels 6.6 and 5.8. But importantly, the virus remained infectious for the full two-month aging period, showing that it was remarkably stable in the cheese over a long period. Those results were confirmed by some real-world examples. The researchers tested samples of raw milk cheese from a farm that had inadvertently produced them with milk from cows infected with bird flu. These findings also showed that levels of virus stayed high and remained infectious over the full two months of aging. 'Our study demonstrates that HPAI H5N1 virus exhibits remarkable stability throughout the cheese making process,' the authors wrote in their preprint study, posted ahead of peer review Friday. However, the study suggested that making raw milk cheese more acidic may kill the virus and make the cheese safer to eat. No live virus was detected in the cheese produced at the lowest pH, 5.0. Prior studies have also shown that common pasteurization methods inactivate the virus. Experts said the new study was consistent with tests of the stability of the virus in milk. 'We have also observed that milk can change the pH needed to inactivate the virus,' said Dr. Seema Lakdawala, an associate professor of microbiology and immunology at Emory University, who has been studying the transmission of H5N1. 'We and others have repeatedly observed that milk will prevent the degradation of the virus on surfaces, and it increases the pH stability, such that a much lower pH than normal is needed to inactivate the virus,' said Lakdawala, who was not involved in the new study. The FDA posted the findings of the study Friday along with preliminary results from its own ongoing sampling study of raw cheese. The FDA sampling study, which was announced in December, has tested 110 cheese samples taken from store shelves across the country. So far, 96 of those samples were negative by polymerase chain reaction testing, or PCR, which detects live virus as well as inactive viral particles, indicating that those cheeses probably weren't made with contaminated milk. The results from the remaining 14 samples are pending, the agency said. 'The FDA is continuing to work with Federal and state partners to address the ongoing outbreak of HPAI A (H5N1) in dairy cattle. The FDA has sampled a total of 464 pasteurized dairy products, including milk cheese butter and ice cream, all were negative for viable H5N1. In addition, multiple research studies have confirmed that pasteurization inactivates the virus,' the statement said. Still, experts say the study is a good reminder of the importance of surveillance – and of not consuming raw milk products. 'This is another reason we should push to ensure there is no bird flu in milk products and only consume pasteurized dairy products,' Lakdawala said.
CNN
14-03-2025
- Health
- CNN
H5N1 bird flu virus is stable and infectious in raw milk cheese for months, study shows
Raw cheese made with milk from dairy cattle infected with bird flu can harbor infectious virus for months and may be a risk to public health, according to a new study from researchers at Cornell University that was funded by the US Food and Drug Administration. Raw milk cheeses are those made with milk that hasn't been heat-treated, or pasteurized, to kill germs. Although federal law prohibits the sale of raw milk across state lines, sales of raw milk cheese are legal nationwide as long as it's aged at least 60 days before landing on store shelves. This requirement, which has been in place since 1949, is thought to cut the risk of contamination, since it allows development of natural acids and enzymes, which were believed to kill off pathogens. The new study shows that this aging process may not inactivate the H5N1 virus, however, and it underscores the risk of consuming raw or undercooked foods during the bird flu outbreak, which continues to infect dairy cattle, poultry and a growing number of other animal species. The same group of researchers previously found that H5N1 virus remained infectious in refrigerated raw milk for up to eight weeks. Dr. Diego Diel, who led the study, says he thinks the virus may be so stable in milk and cheese because it's protected by the complex matrix of molecules around it. 'The protein and fat content in the cheese and milk provide a good environment for the virus to survive at refrigeration temperature,' said Diel, an associate professor of virology at Cornell. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., secretary of the US Department of Health and Human Services, has said food doesn't pose a bird flu risk. 'The disease is not passed through food, so you cannot get it – as far as we know, you cannot get it from an egg or milk or meat from an infected animal,' Kennedy told Fox News in an interview that aired Tuesday. But that's only partly true. Cats and other animals have been infected by raw cow's milk and raw pet food, and there have been at least three confirmed human infections in which investigators were unable to determine the source of the person's exposure to the H5N1 virus. There have been no confirmed reports of people getting sick from eating or drinking bird-flu contaminated foods, including raw milk cheese, but dairy workers have been infected by getting splashed with raw milk in their faces or eyes. It's still not entirely clear whether humans can be infected by eating or drinking contaminated food, Diel said, noting that his study wasn't really designed to answer that question. 'I do think it is possible. There is a risk of infection,' he said. 'It obviously depends on the dose, how much of that contaminated product is ingested.' It may also depend on the strain of virus in the milk or cheese. Diel and his team tested the stability of the B3.13 virus, which originally infected cattle in the US in March 2024. B3.13 has caused only mild disease in people. However, a new strain, D1.1, which has been associated with some severe human cases, has also crossed into cattle, further increasing the risk. For the study, the researchers made mini cheeses with milk they spiked with H5N1 virus. They made these cheeses at three pH levels: 6.6, 5.8 and the most acidic formula, 5.0. The researchers then tested the cheeses over time to see whether any virus capable of infecting cells remained. They injected samples into fertilized chicken eggs, considered the gold standard test. Levels of the virus remained high for the first seven days after the cheese was made and then dropped a bit in the cheeses produced at pH levels 6.6 and 5.8. But importantly, the virus remained infectious for the full two-month aging period, showing that it was remarkably stable in the cheese over a long period. Those results were confirmed by some real-world examples. The researchers tested samples of raw milk cheese from a farm that had inadvertently produced them with milk from cows infected with bird flu. These findings also showed that levels of virus stayed high and remained infectious over the full two months of aging. 'Our study demonstrates that HPAI H5N1 virus exhibits remarkable stability throughout the cheese making process,' the authors wrote in their preprint study, posted ahead of peer review Friday. However, the study suggested that making raw milk cheese more acidic may kill the virus and make the cheese safer to eat. No live virus was detected in the cheese produced at the lowest pH, 5.0. Prior studies have also shown that common pasteurization methods inactivate the virus. Experts said the new study was consistent with tests of the stability of the virus in milk. 'We have also observed that milk can change the pH needed to inactivate the virus,' said Dr. Seema Lakdawala, an associate professor of microbiology and immunology at Emory University, who has been studying the transmission of H5N1. 'We and others have repeatedly observed that milk will prevent the degradation of the virus on surfaces, and it increases the pH stability, such that a much lower pH than normal is needed to inactivate the virus,' said Lakdawala, who was not involved in the new study. The FDA posted the findings of the study Friday along with preliminary results from its own ongoing sampling study of raw cheese. The FDA sampling study, which was announced in December, has tested 110 cheese samples taken from store shelves across the country. So far, 96 of those samples were negative by polymerase chain reaction testing, or PCR, which detects live virus as well as inactive viral particles, indicating that those cheeses probably weren't made with contaminated milk. The results from the remaining 14 samples are pending, the agency said. 'The FDA is continuing to work with Federal and state partners to address the ongoing outbreak of HPAI A (H5N1) in dairy cattle. The FDA has sampled a total of 464 pasteurized dairy products, including milk cheese butter and ice cream, all were negative for viable H5N1. In addition, multiple research studies have confirmed that pasteurization inactivates the virus,' the statement said. Still, experts say the study is a good reminder of the importance of surveillance – and of not consuming raw milk products. 'This is another reason we should push to ensure there is no bird flu in milk products and only consume pasteurized dairy products,' Lakdawala said.
New York Times
29-01-2025
- New York Times
Student Whose Racy Social Media Posts Riled a College Gets $250,000 Settlement
A month after Kimberly Diei enrolled as a doctor of pharmacy student at the University of Tennessee, the college's professional conduct committee received an anonymous complaint about her posts on social media. The college reviewed her posts, which included racy rap lyrics and tight dresses, and concluded that they were vulgar and unprofessional. It threatened to expel her. For the last four years, Ms. Diei has been fighting her school in court, arguing that her posts were fun and sex-positive, and unconnected to her status as a student. Now she has won a settlement: On either Wednesday or Thursday, she expects to receive a check for $250,000 — both vindication and relief, she said. She has also graduated from pharmacy school at the university and is now a practicing pharmacist at a Walgreens in Memphis, a job where she says her comfort with her own sexuality has been an asset. 'Viagra, that's a very, very big seller,' she said, chuckling. 'Sexual lubricants, condoms, all of that. I can't say every day somebody's asking me about sexual products, but it's fairly frequent across the age range.' Her lawsuit against the university, filed in February 2021, tested the boundaries of free expression for students in the age of social media. With the pro bono help of a lawyer with the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, a free-speech group, Ms. Diel challenged the university's authority to punish her for messages posted on her own account, on her own time, and not representing her as a student. The suit argued that the public university had violated her constitutional right of free expression 'for no legitimate pedagogical reason.' About a month before she sued, the Supreme Court had agreed to hear the case of a high school cheerleader in Pennsylvania who was removed from her school's junior varsity squad after she posted vulgar complaints about not making the varsity team. The Supreme Court ruled in her favor, indicating that courts should be skeptical of schools' efforts to punish students' off-campus speech. Ms. Diel's complaint was initially dismissed by the district court where she filed it. She appealed, and the appellate court found last September that her speech 'was clearly protected by the First Amendment,' and permitted the case to go forward. Melissa Tindell, a spokeswoman for the university, said that in line with its general practice, it would not comment on a legal matter. Ms. Diei acknowledges that she is an unlikely poster child for freedom of expression. 'I never had a strong interest in politics,' she said in an interview. Even so, she said, she never doubted that she was doing the right thing by refusing to back down. 'I knew what was happening was unfair,' she said. 'Personally, I never felt shame. But I did not appreciate the fact they were wanting me to feel shame.' She said she is too busy these days to post on social media, and her followers on Instagram have stagnated at around 18,000, about where they were when she got into trouble. She is not sure what she will do with her settlement money: Pay off her student loans, perhaps, or invest in the stock market. But she knows she would like to take a vacation. 'Somewhere tropical, with a piña colada in my hand,' she said. 'That's where I see myself in the near future.'
