SAN ANTONIO – Staying away from raw milk could be the best way to avoid avian influenza, which is also known as bird flu.
Bird flu is spread from wild birds to outdoor farm animals, such as cows and chickens. Consuming those byproducts raw, like raw milk, can have serious consequences.
Although bird flu has been around for a while, University Health Chief Medical Officer Dr. Bryan Alsip said its dangers are still prevalent.
“Since it’s unpasteurized, that also is a potential risk for people who could drink milk from an infected dairy cow,” Alsip said. “What we’re seeing is infections from animals to people … Perhaps in very close quarters, person to person.
“But what we’re not seeing is person to person to person to person spread, and that’s really the bigger concern for a larger epidemic or certainly a future pandemic.”
According to the Centers for Disease Control, Texas only had one exposure to bird flu in 2024. That number was a big difference from California, which had 37 exposures.
While keeping yourself safe and away from potentially contaminated products is vital, keeping your pets away from these items can be just as important.
“Cats are currently more susceptible than dogs to avian influenza,” Alsip said. “If you feed your cat raw pet food that’s untreated, then that could also put them at risk. We’ve seen a few cases of fatalities in cats.”
If you think you might be infected with bird flu, the symptoms do not differ much from typical flu symptoms like fever, cough, stuffy nose, nausea and fatigue.
“There’s (sic) readily available medications that your doctor can prescribe for seasonal influenza … that presumably should still work just as well on Avian Influenza or bird flu,” Alsip said.
More related coverage on KSAT: