bird flu That’s probably not what sickened a California boy after drinking raw milk, according to initial tests from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a source close to the investigation told CBS News on Wednesday.
Health officials a California’s Marin County said Tuesday the child experienced fever and vomiting after drinking the unpasteurized milk and warned others not to consume any raw milk products.
“The child has recovered and no other family members became ill, indicating no person-to-person transmission,” Marin County Public Health said in a statement.
The risk to the public remains low, the statement added, but the local health department is working with the California Department of Public Health and the CDC to investigate the case.
This suspected case comes less than a month after another child from California was confirmed the first American child infected with bird flu – although the cause of this infection remains unknown. The child, whose age was not released, had mild respiratory symptoms.
More than 50 human cases of a variant of bird flu have been confirmed in seven states this year, 32 of which were reported in California.
Although there are currently no confirmed cases of bird flu virus in people who drank raw milk, health officials have long warns against the consumption of unpasteurized milk because it can contain disease-causing bacteria. Pasteurized milk, which is heat-treated to kill the virus, is still safe to drink
Friday, the US Department of Agriculture issued a new federal order require testing of raw and unpasteurized milk samples nationwide. The order builds on previous actions taken for the outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza, or HPAI H5N1, in dairy cattle that was first detected in March,
contributed to this report.