One in five milk samples nationwide shows genetic traces of avian influenza
Federal regulators discovered fragments of the avian influenza virus in about 20 percent of retail milk samples analyzed in a nationally representative study, the Food and Drug Administration said in an online update Thursday.Samples from parts of the country known to have dairy farms infected with the virus were more likely to test positive, the agency said. Regulators have said there is no evidence that this milk poses a danger to consumers or that live virus is present in the milk on store shelves, an assessment that public health experts agree with.But finding traces of the virus in such a high percentage of samples from across the country is the strongest sign yet that the avian flu outbreak in dairy cows is larger than the official count of 33 infected herds in eight states.“That su...