How industrial meat and dairy trap us in an infectious disease cycle.

How industrial meat and dairy trap us in an infectious disease cycle.

H5N1, or bird flu, has hit dairy farms — but the dairy industry doesn’t want us saying so.

The current, highly virulent strain of avian flu had already been ripping through chicken and turkey farms over the past two years. Since it jumped to US dairy cows for the first time last month, it’s infected more than 20 dairy herds across eight states, raising alarms among public health authorities about possible spread to humans and potential impacts on the food supply.

One Texas dairy worker contracted a mild case of bird flu from one of the impacted farms — the second such case ever recorded in the US (though one of hundreds worldwide over the past two decades, most of them fatal).

Whatever fear-mongering you may have seen on social media, we are not on the cusp of a human bird flu pandemic; the chances of further human spread currently remain low. But that could change. As the virus jumps among new mammal species like cows, the risk that it’ll evolve to be able to spread between humans does increase.

But the American Association of Bovine Practitioners (AABP), an organization of beef and dairy veterinarians, declared in a statement (condemned by public health experts) last week that it doesn’t believe bird flu in cows should be considered bird flu at all.

  • SoupBrick@yiffit.net
    501·
    3 months ago

    Ah yes, the good old, “Leave the disease alone and see what happens” tactic. I wonder if it will just go away this time?

    • rayyy@lemmy.world
      13·
      3 months ago

      It will be gone be Easter Memorial Day, July 4th or maybe Labor day for sure…

      • whotookkarl@lemmy.world
        2·
        2 months ago

        Yeah once it warms up all the cows get some fresh air, drink some bleach, stick a flashlight up their butt, it’ll be gone in no time /s

  • Hobbes_Dent@lemmy.world
    38·
    3 months ago

    … m, mmm, mad?

    Also, no games there industry. You don’t get to choose the name, just do your part for public health with your public protections and money (in some cases).

    Edit: grammar games

    Mad, cow, industry.

    Mad cow industry.

    Mad, cow industry?

    • aibler@lemmy.world
      255·
      3 months ago

      At this point, it would be a massive step up if people would just not send their money to people who cram cows in tiny cages with no room to move. Even if the vast majority of people can’t give a shit about the well being of animals, they should at least be able to realise that breeding horrific viruses so they have baby cow juice loaded up with drugs is a terrible idea just for their own selfish sake. How hard is it to change a few little habits? Are people so far gone that they can’t change any aspect of their lives?

      It’s so hard to take anyone seriously when they have such little self-control and moral absence that they can’t even take any tiny step if it means giving up anything that they are used to.

      • VARXBLE@lemmy.dbzer0.com
        85·
        3 months ago

        You can take my milkies away from my cold dead calcium fortified skeletal remains!

        This is a joke. I think milk actually tastes real gross

        • aibler@lemmy.world
          611·
          3 months ago

          I’ve not drank anything that was made for baby cows in over 6 years(or any other animal products), I get regularly tested for deficiencies, and I have never been under in calcium. They lied to you. They lied to you because they knew how easy it would be to make you feel like you need to do whatever they tell you. Not only did they convince you that it is healthy to drink their milk, they also convinced you to not think about the fact that they pump it full of drugs to increase their profits. You got played so hard that they don’t even have to worry that might question them. At this point, most people are too afraid to even consider they’ve been played because they don’t want to entertain the fact that maybe, just maybe, they’ve been doing something stupid. The count the egos of their victims to continue their scam for them. As a result, people do their job for them and repeat their manufactured lie to their own children.

          • Zorsith@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
            31·
            2 months ago

            “Got Milk?” Is a seriously insidious ad campaign. The posters are in every school I’ve ever seen, and have been for decades.

      • capem@startrek.website
        109·
        3 months ago

        How hard is it to change a few little habits?

        It is legitimately impossible for most 1st-worlders.

        They all think they’re entitled to what they’ve had their entire lives, even if it hurts others.

        • aibler@lemmy.world
          77·
          3 months ago

          I know, you’re right. I bounce back and forth between despising and pitying them. I feel like I should pity more, but honestly, I spend more time despising.

    • Yer Ma@lemm.ee
      1413·
      3 months ago

      Even the powers of veganism cannot protect you from an airborne virus

      • ElcaineVolta@kbin.social
        207·
        3 months ago

        obviously, the solution is to dismantle the industries that cause these conditions, but I imagine you already knew that.

        • foggy@lemmy.world
          1626·
          3 months ago

          lol, I don’t eat meat. Way to keep up the abhorrent ‘holier than thou’ attitude.

          I loathe people like you. Other people loathe people like you. A stain on a community.

          Tagged you as “vegan douche.”

          Cheers.

          • ElcaineVolta@kbin.social
            1410·
            3 months ago

            no one asked if you eat meat or not, sounds like you’re still happily supporting the industries propelling the next pandemic. if the cost of being on the right side of this issue is faux outrage from “people like you”, I welcome it happily without a second thought.

            • foggy@lemmy.world
              1423·
              3 months ago

              Lmao

              You told me “I’d get there someday,” suggesting I eat meat and that it is somehow bad, you insolent prick. You asked.

              You truly are insufferable lol. You’re gonna join my block list soon.

              P.S. I can see you using an Alt acct to upvote your own posts, lmao. What a tool.

              • ABCDE@lemmy.world
                175·
                3 months ago

                You don’t have to announce you’ve blocked someone, just do it, they’ll be happier for it.

                The suggestion isn’t that you eat meat, it’s that you will understand the other poster. But yes, keep it up, your attitude only makes people understand the type of person you are.

                • foggy@lemmy.world
                  413·
                  3 months ago

                  Certainly in the company of people whose words are not important to see.

          • aibler@lemmy.world
            109·
            3 months ago

            Tagged you as “selfish child devoid of self-control”. It’s totally understandable that you loathe people who remind you of how pathetic your actions are. Hopefully, one day you evolve enough to at least be able to see how much worse the world is due to your current form of existence. Believe it or not, your actions have actual consequences.

  • hark@lemmy.world
    3·
    2 months ago

    Would they prefer calling it cow flu? Either way, it’s going to be used as yet another excuse to jack up prices far beyond the impact (as big or as small as it may be). Not looking forward to this.