A warning was issued by the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) after another batch of unpasteurized milk was found to contain bird flu.
The warning came five days after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirmed that a child had tested positive for bird flu in Alameda County, California.
California is the state at the center of the United States' bird flu outbreak, with 29 confirmed human cases of the virus so far, out of 55 total nationwide.
A previous batch of cream top, whole raw milk, produced by Raw Farm, LLC, in Fresno County, California, had already been found to contain bird flu; a recall notice was announced on November 24 for products with the lot code 20241109 and best-by date November 27. However, another warning has now been issued after Santa Clara County Public Health Laboratory again found bird flu in Raw Farm's raw milk being sold on retail shelves in their county.
This time, Raw Farm is voluntarily recalling—at the state's request—a batch of raw milk with the lot code 20241119 and best-by date of December 7.
"As the state continues to investigate the link between bird flu detections in retail raw milk and the ongoing spread of bird flu in dairy cows, poultry and sporadic human cases, consumers are strongly urged to not consume any of the affected raw milk," said the CDPH's statement.
Additional samples were collected at Raw Farm's milk processing facility, from bulk tanks and bottled products, on Wednesday, but no test results have yet been announced for these. No human bird flu cases associated with this product have been detected, as of the CDPH's statement on Wednesday.
Newsweek has approached Raw Farm, the CDC and the CDPH for comment.
On November 22, the CDC confirmed that a Californian child had tested positive for bird flu—the first U.S. child involved in the current outbreak. The child experienced mild symptoms, and the levels of bird flu detected were low, so they were not believed to be contagious.
Their close family members all had symptoms, but tested negative for bird flu. It seems the whole family, including the affected child, also had contracted a more common respiratory virus, such as a cold.
The CDC has said there is no evidence of person-to-person spread of bird flu from this child to others, but they are testing the child's contacts to make sure.
The child is recovering. While an initial test was positive for bird flu, a follow-up test four days later was negative.
The case was first announced by the CDPH on November 19—before it was confirmed to be bird flu—in a statement that said the child had had no known contact with an infected animal, and that public health experts were investigating possible exposure to wild birds.
Out of the 55 national cases of bird flu confirmed by the CDC, 32 seem to have originated from contact with infected cattle and 21 from infected poultry. In two cases, the cause is unknown.
This strain of bird flu, avian influenza A H5N1, is a virus that can cause serious illness and death in birds and mammals.
In California, widespread outbreaks of H5N1 bird flu have been detected in wild birds and domestic poultry since 2022, and dairy herds since August 2024, according to the CDC.
Human infections are rare, and the CDC maintains that the risk is low, but humans can be infected if the virus gets into a their eyes, nose or mouth, or is inhaled.
People who work with animals and come into contact with animal fluids, feces or feathers are at higher risk.
The CDC has also warned against drinking raw, unpasteurized milk, as this can be a source of viral infection.
Symptoms of bird flu in humans include eye redness or discharge, cough, headache, fatigue, sore throat, runny or stuffy nose, diarrhea, vomiting, muscle aches and fever. In severe cases, bird flu can cause breathing difficulty, pneumonia, seizures and death.
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