Is milk safe? What Florida should know about bird flu in cows.

The COVID-19 pandemic may be in the rearview, but could another virus soon derail life as we know it?

Public health officials are monitoring a virulent strain of bird flu, which has recently infected dairy cattle in at least nine states. Florida has yet to report a case.

Scientists fear that the virus could mutate in cows and find a way to easily spread person to person, triggering a new pandemic. Lots of things must go wrong, though, for that to happen.

“Should we be really worried yet? It’s hard to say,” said John Lednicky, a research professor at the University of Florida who has studied bird flu.

The risk to the public remains low, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Here’s what Floridians should know.

What is bird flu?

The influenza virus H5N1 emerged in China in 1996 and has since devastated wild bird and poultry populations around the world. Millions have been killed through infection or culling. It also has spread to some mammals, including a Florida dolphin that died in 2022.

The pathogen occasionally infects people. Rapid human-to-human transmission, like with COVID-19, does not occur. Nearly 900 cases have been reported globally since 2003, with Egypt, Indonesia and Vietnam seeing the most patients, according to data from the World Health Organization. More than half of those infected died.

The current U.S. outbreak is entering its third year. Until recently, it was largely a problem for birds. Florida recorded an unprecedented surge of avian infections.

Farms nationwide were forced to cull poultry, driving up egg prices. One South Tampa breakfast spot told the Tampa Bay Times last year a box of 180 eggs jumped from $30.59 to $98.51.

What’s happening with cows?

Starting in late March, U.S. agriculture officials began to report infections in dairy cattle. Cases as of Friday morning have been identified in 58 herds from Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, Michigan, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, South Dakota and Texas.

How, exactly, the pathogen is spreading between cows remains unclear. Scientists think it jumped into cattle sometime from November to January and remained undetected for months. That suggests there are more cases than officially reported.

The illness has not been severe in cows. Symptoms include low appetite and reduced milk production.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture now requires certain dairy cattle test negative for flu prior to transport across state lines.

There are about 125,000 dairy cows in Florida that collectively produce roughly 300 million gallons of milk per year, according to Florida Dairy Farmers.

Have people been infected in the outbreak?

Yes. Two farmworkers from Texas and Michigan have contracted the virus. Both were around sick cattle, and their infections were mild. The Texas man developed conjunctivitis, commonly known as “pink eye.”

People in close contact with infected animals or contaminated environments are at highest risk, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The agency recommends individuals avoid sick or dead animals and materials touched by birds or mammals that carry the virus. Stay clear of feces, too.

Is it safe to drink milk?

Food regulators say yes — if it’s pasteurized.

In a survey of almost 300 dairy product samples, a fifth contained fragments of the virus, according to an early analysis by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The samples were collected at retail locations in 17 states and included milk, cottage cheese, sour cream and yogurt.

The agency conducted further testing to see if the virus was still infectious. It wasn’t.

Pasteurization, a heating process that kills harmful pathogens, is effective in inactivating the virus, the federal agency says.

Raw milk is a different story.

It remains unknown if H5N1 can be transmitted through drinking unpasteurized milk, according to the Food and Drug Administration. But the agency has long warned that such products can harbor dangerous microorganisms.

Florida bars the sale of raw milk for human consumption. Lednicky, the University of Florida expert, urged residents not to drink it.

What about beef?

Federal agriculture officials say they’re confident the meat supply is safe and didn’t find the virus in 30 samples of ground beef collected from states where dairy cows tested positive.

In an experiment, federal Department of Agriculture researchers found that cooking hamburgers to 145 degrees (medium) and 160 degrees (well done) would kill the virus.

The chances of infected poultry entering the food chain are extremely low, the department says. Cooking birds and eggs to 165 degrees would kill the pathogen, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Have milk prices increased?

There hasn’t been an effect on the milk supply or consumer prices yet, and for now authorities don’t expect one, according to U.S. agriculture officials.

Have you started drinking raw milk because of the H5N1 outbreak in dairy cattle? The Tampa Bay Times wants to hear from you. Contact health reporter Sam Ogozalek at sogozalek@tampabay.com