Bird flu testing shows more dairy products are safe, US FDA says (updated)

BioCryst Pharmaceuticals

01/05/2024 18:10

(Adds further FDA comment, CDC official, available treatments
in paragraphs 6-8)
    By Julie Steenhuysen and Tom Polansek
       NEW YORK, May 1 (Reuters) - The U.S. Food and Drug
Administration said on Wednesday that preliminary results of
additional testing of more dairy products has shown that
pasteurization inactivates the bird flu virus.
    The FDA released results from tests of products including
sour cream and cottage cheese, after reporting last week that
preliminary results from testing showed pasteurization kills the
virus in milk and baby formula.
    The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has confirmed bird
flu in 36 dairy herds in nine states since late March. One Texas
dairy worker tested positive for the virus.
    The FDA said it has looked at 297 total retail samples of
dairy products, and the results released on Wednesday represent
tests of a group of 201 of those samples.
    "It is a pretty good body of results," Donald Prater, acting
director of the FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied
Nutrition, said on a call with reporters that also included
officials from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC) as well as the USDA.
   "There are probably a few more products that we would look at
just so that we make sure that we've got a good national
sample," Prater added.
    CDC official Dr. Demetre Daskalakis said that 25 people had
been tested so far for bird flu and that no additional positive
cases had been found.
    The agency tested a sample of the virus taken from the farm
worker who was infected with H5N1 and found that all three
commercially available antiviral flu treatments are effective
against it. The worker's only symptom was conjunctivitis,
commonly known as pink eye. 
    Currently approved antiviral drugs include Roche's  ROG.S  
Tamiflu as well as a generic versions, GSK's  GSK.L  Relenza and
BioCryst Pharmaceuticals'  BCRX.O  Rapivab.

 (Reporting by Julie Steenhuysen and Tom Polansek; Writing by
Caroline Humer; Editing by Bill Berkrot)
 ((caroline.humer@thomsonreuters.com;))