While standard pasteurization can reduce the H5N1 virus in milk, this study shows that some virus strains remain resilient, calling for further testing to ensure safety in commercial milk supplies. Research Letter: Influenza A(H5N1) Virus Resilience in Milk after Thermal Inactivation . Image Credit: Lik Studio / Shutterstock In a recent study published in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases , researchers evaluated the resilience of the highly pathogenic avian influenza A (H5N1) virus in milk under pasteurization-like temperatures and assessed the effectiveness of thermal inactivation.
Background H5N1 influenza is enzootic in many bird populations and can infect mammals, including humans, leading to severe or fatal outcomes in some cases. The detection of H5N1 virus in United States (U.S.
) dairy cows has raised significant public health concerns. Pasteurization, a widely used method to ensure milk safety, involves heating milk to eliminate harmful bacteria. In the U.
S., low-temperature long-time (LTLT) and high-temperature short-time (HTST) pasteurization are common processes. However, recent studies have shown conflicting results regarding the efficacy of pasteurization-like conditions, indicating that unpasteurized milk from H5N1-infected cows may contain sufficient virus to infect susceptible animals.
These findings highlight the potential risk to human health, and further research is needed to fully understand the virus's resilience and improve safety measures. About .