'A big concern for us': Virologist on danger of avian flu outbreak coming to Canadian cattle

A Canadian virologist says an avian flu outbreak decimating wildlife in the United States should give us pause on this side of the border.

A Canadian virologist says an avian flu outbreak decimating wildlife in the United States should give us pause on this side of the border.

“This is a big concern for us. We always think about these emerging diseases predominately in terms of human health and direct human impact from infections,” said Jason Kindrachuk, associate professor and Canada research chair in the department of medical microbiology and infectious diseases at the University of Manitoba.

“The reality is that we have to start thinking about agricultural industries, food security – those issues that also are common with this kind of spread.”

His comments come as the H5N1 virus, otherwise known as avian flu, spreads among cattle at dozens of dairy farms in the United States, sparking concerns about its pandemic potential for humans.

The outbreak has prompted food inspections in ground beef and grocery store milk in the U.S., with the Food and Drug Administration finding one in five dairy samples tested positive for H5N1 particles.

Important to note – virus fragments are not able to cause illness in humans, and there have been no confirmed cases of avian flu in Canadian cattle.

But in cats fed raw milk at U.S. dairy farms, there was a high mortality rate, with over 50 percent of the cats who tested positive for H5N1 dying from it.