Why Is Measles Resurging?

   Skye Taylor

 As measles cases rise across the Southeast, college campuses like Georgia Southern are especially vulnerable to outbreaks due to classrooms, residence halls and shared spaces. 

    Measles is one of the most contagious viruses known to science. It spreads through the air and can linger for up to two hours after an infected person leaves a space, creating exposure risks in crowded environments.

    Sean Bear, assistant director of Health Services and public health administrator at Georgia Southern, said the way measles spreads makes college settings especially concerning.

    “Measles is airborne and extremely contagious,” Bear said. “If one student with measles is in a classroom, nearly everyone in that room could be exposed, along with anyone who enters that space for two hours afterwards.”

    A person infected with measles can spread the virus for up to four days before a rash appears and four days after, giving the virus a long window to move undetected. In populations with no immunity, up to nine out of 10 exposed individuals can become infected.

    Georgia Southern requires incoming students to provide proof of two doses of the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine, which is considered “full” protection. The policy follows University System of Georgia requirements and is designed to prevent outbreaks before they start.

    “We monitor immunization compliance closely for incoming students,” Bear said. “Vaccination is the most effective tool we have to prevent measles on campus.”

    Despite these requirements, exemptions remain available for religious reasons, medical contraindications and fully online enrollments. Even small numbers of unvaccinated individuals can weaken immunity.

    Dr. Isaac Chun-Hai Fung, a professor of biostatistics at Georgia Southern and an infectious disease epidemiologist, said declining vaccination rates are driving the resurgence of measles in the United States.

    “Measles was previously eliminated in this country,” Fung said. “What we are seeing now is a direct result of gaps in vaccination coverage.”

    Fung said measles has a much higher transmission rate than most respiratory illnesses, making it especially dangerous when immunity levels fall.

    “Measles spreads far more efficiently than viruses like influenza,” Fung said. “When vaccination rates drop below the threshold needed for herd immunity, outbreaks become almost inevitable.”

    Vaccine hesitancy has grown over the past decade, accelerated by misinformation and increased distrust in health institutions following COVID. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the overwhelming majority of measles cases occur in unvaccinated individuals.

    The impact extends beyond college campuses. Infants and young children rely on high community vaccination rates for protection.

    The first dose of the MMR vaccine is typically given at 12 months of age. Until then, infants are at higher risk for serious complications such as pneumonia and brain inflammation.

    Not all parents view vaccination decisions the same way. Rachel Norris, a mother who has chosen not to vaccinate her children, said her decision is based on personal health beliefs rather than religion.

    “Our family leans toward natural health approaches,” Norris said. “That is what we feel most comfortable with when it comes to our children.”

    Norris said she understands public health concerns but believes families should be able to make individual medical decisions.

    Bear explained that if a measles case were identified at Georgia Southern, Health Services would immediately notify the Georgia Department of Public Health. Infected individuals would be required to isolate, while unvaccinated people exposed to the virus could be subject to quarantine for up to 21 days.

    Georgia Southern Health Services offers the MMR vaccine on campus and encourages students to ensure their immunization records are up to date.

    “As long as vaccine hesitancy continues, we will continue to see preventable outbreaks.” Bear said.

HIV? Let's Talk About It.

 By: Hannah Clay

Infographic by: Hannah Clay

The Human Immunodeficiency Virus, or HIV, continues to be a serious global health threat that affects millions of people globally and has a significant negative economic impact on communities.

 

Metro-Atlanta is now the third highest ranked city in the United States. 

 

In 2021, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 2,371 new HIV diagnoses reported in Georgia and a total of 59,422 people living with HIV in the state altogether. 

 

It has been reported that the city of Atlanta makes up more than half of the new HIV cases according to the CDC.

 

The CDC also reports that there are 1.2 million people in the United States living with HIV at the end of 2021.

 

What is HIV?

 

“HIV weakens the immune system, making the body less capable of fending off illness and infection,” Dr. Edward Spilker, a primary care physician said. 

 

HIV starts to infect and kill CD4 cells as soon as it enters the bloodstream. CD4 cells are crucial for organizing the body's defenses against infections. 

 

The immune system is gradually weakened as the virus spreads and the number of CD4 cells drops, making the body more susceptible to infectious diseases and malignancies that a healthy immune system would normally be able to fight off.

 

It is very common for people to experience flu-like symptoms in the early stages of HIV infection, including fever, exhaustion, sore throats, enlarged lymph nodes, and rash. 

 

“The symptoms of HIV can be mild and may not be detected,” Spilker said. 

 

HIV can enter a clinical latency stage after this initial acute phase, during which the virus stays in the body and replicates at low levels without producing noticeable symptoms.

 

If HIV is left without treatment, it will eventually turn into Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome, also known as AIDS. 

 

How does HIV spread?

 

Blood, semen, vaginal fluids, and breast milk are among the body fluids that carry the HIV virus and are the main means of transmission. 

 

Common routes of transmission include unprotected sexual contact, sharing syringes or needles tainted with HIV-positive blood, and perinatal transmission—the transfer of HIV from an HIV-positive mother to her child during pregnancy, childbirth, or breastfeeding. 

 

HIV transmission can also occur through occupational exposure among healthcare professionals and transfusion of tainted blood products; however, these are uncommon in areas with strict blood screening guidelines.

 

Who should worry?

 

HIV can impact people of any age, gender, or socioeconomic background, yet it disproportionately affects some communities. 

 

Men who have sexual intercourse with other men, transgender persons, people who inject drugs (PWID), sex workers, and members of marginalized communities who experience restricted access to healthcare facilities and socioeconomic inequality are among the key affected populations.

 

64% of new diagnosis in the United States comes from male-to-male sexual contact. 22% comes from heterosexual contact according to data from the CDC.

 

Moreover, a combination of biological, societal, and economic variables puts young people at higher risk of contracting HIV.

 

“As a gay black man, it is important for me to be educated on things that could directly affect me. It is scary that I live in a city where the rates are so high,” Evan Livesey, a Georgia college student said.

 

How can it be prevented?

 

The cornerstone of HIV control initiatives is prevention, which involves a variety of approaches adapted to various settings and populations. 

 

Important preventive measures include encouraging the use of condoms and providing access to sterile injecting supplies, putting in place thorough sex education programs, increasing the availability of HIV testing and counseling services, and increasing the number of people who can receive pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for those who are at high risk of contracting the virus. 

 

“I think that it is important for all gay men to be educated and if not on PrEP. This will not only protect ourselves but others around us,” Nick Ike said.

 

Furthermore, programs aimed at addressing the structural factors that contribute to HIV transmission—such as prejudice, stigma, and poverty—are essential to creating an atmosphere that is supportive of successful preventative measures.

 

How is it treated?

 

Antiretroviral therapy (ART) advancements have allowed people living with HIV to live long, healthy lives, transforming the virus from a potentially fatal sickness to a chronic condition that can be managed. 

 

In order to lower the amount of HIV virus in the blood and maintain immune function, antiretroviral therapy suppresses viral replication. After an HIV diagnosis, starting ART as soon as possible is essential to attaining viral suppression and stopping the disease's development. 

 

Furthermore, antiretroviral therapy is essential for HIV prevention since it lowers the chance of viral suppression, often known as "treatment as prevention" (TasP). 

 

Apart from conventional antiretroviral therapy regimens, innovative treatment approaches like long-acting injectable formulations and new medication classes have the potential to improve treatment compliance and streamline HIV care.

###

Solar Eclipse

 By: Ariana Walker 

                                  

During this cosmic dance between the sun and moon, people explore the fascinating event of how a solar eclipse may change the colors we see, revealing the mysteries and miracles of our own eyes' perception.

A solar eclipse happens when the moon moves in front of the Earth and the sun, blocks some or all of the sun's light. Only during a new moon, when the moon's orbit is exactly between the Earth and the sun and casts its shadow on the surface, does this celestial pairing occur.

A solar eclipse's time can vary based on several variables, such as the kind of eclipse and the part of the world from which it is watched.

Three types of solar eclipses mostly occur around the world which is total, partial, and Annular eclipses.

When the moon fully obscures the sun's disk, a momentary state of darkness known as totality is produced. This is the case during total solar eclipses. Totality lasts anything from a few seconds to a maximum of around seven minutes and thirty-one seconds. 

However, the majority of total solar eclipses only last a few minutes.

Only a bit of the sun is hidden from view by the moon when there is a partial solar eclipse. The length of a partial eclipse can change based on how much of the moon is obscured by the sun. From the start of the partial phase until the finish, it might take several hours.

Annular solar eclipses happen when the moon is too far away from Earth to fully cover the sun's disk. This makes the "ring of fire" of sunlight around the moon.

When looking at the eclipse people are told to wear a specific type of glass so people won’t mess up their eyes because you can go blind. Looking at it the eclipse can be very fun because people are looking at the moon and sun cross each other. This is something that rarely happens.

One of the main questions is how people can see different colors when looking at them.

“In this zone, our eyes are utilizing both the cone and rod cells. So while warmer colors like reds and oranges will appear as being less vibrant, greens and blues will get brighter and more vibrant.”

“This unique effect is known as the Purkinje effect. This is a phenomenon that changes how we perceive colors in low light.”

Wearing the glasses that most people got handed out to them will let them  be able to see the lighting for the eclipse without going home.

“Our perception of this color transformation arises from the specific anatomy of our eyes. Working within the retina—a light-reactive layer of tissue at the back of the human 

eye—are two types of cells called cones and rods.” (Williams, 2024)

The eyes are compassionate so that the people can see the eclipse they are surprised.

“Cone cells provide photopic vision, or the ability to see clearly and perceive colors in well-lit spaces, whereas rod cells give scotopic vision, or the ability to see in dim light but with much less color.” (Williams, 2024)

In conclusion, a solar eclipse is itself an amazing astrological occurrence, but the event of seeing different hues throughout one adds even more wonder to it. The moon modifies the way light is scattered and refracted in Earth's atmosphere by blocking out the sun's brightness.

Smart technology and health monitoring

 By: Tyra Redmond

                                                        Multimedia By Author 

From wearable devices to sleep trackers, data-driven technology is advancing and there’s more to explore. 
 
Smart technology combined with AI algorithms is increasingly popular for recording health patterns with personalized features that monitor well-being. 
 
Professor Jasleen Kaur is a computer scientist and engineer who studies health informatics at Waterloo University. Kaur is also the developer manager for the  Ubiquitous Health Technology Lab. The lab relies on subjective questionnaires and variable devices for sleep monitoring, behavioral patterns, and physical activity. Their recent testing has shown motion sensing data to be the most accurate in sleep quality metrics that generate cues of sleep disturbance, durations, and sleep quality. 
 
“Starting with the collection of data we begin with a pilot study, then recruit 10-15 participants and spend months collecting information based on individual activity, from that evaluation we do an analysis,” Kaur said. 
 
Kaur uses smart thermostats as a data source for evaluating sleep quality and health monitoring.  She aims to find sleep improvement strategies for sleep technologists and healthcare policymakers.
 
She believes wearable technology is effective in tracking the accuracy of sleep and health with a minor setback.  
 
“The main limitation is the batteries in variable devices,” Kaur said. “When the smartwatch, phone, or ring dies, that data cannot be recorded, energy efficiency is crucial.” 
 
Professor. Kaur dedicates the first few months of a new study to selecting efficient technology to support viable findings. 
 
“Majority of engineers' research is related to the embedded process,” Kaur said. “But sensory analysis research is most accurate when paired with existing technology. When we conduct studies  we create predictions based on individual physical activity impacting sleep.” 
 
Biomedical Sensory Monitoring 

Pulkit Grover is a Biomedical Engineer at Carnegie Mellon University. He depends on information theory to assess bias in existing biomedical systems, including EEG to design neural sensing and stimulation interfaces.
 
Grover uses AI to design stimulation parameters for neurostimulation, e.g. for cell-type specific stimulation.
 
“I am not directly working on energy efficiency at this point, but overall, this would be about designing better algorithms that do not require high power and integrating the hardware with power,” Grover said. 
 
Therefore, he finds wireless, wearable neurostimulation devices very exciting.
 
For conducting research, Grover does animal and phantom experiments to ensure systems are reliable for unique testing.
 
Thomas Murphy is a professor at Georgia Southern’s Armstrong campus. Unlike Grover, he designs sensor circuits and digital filters of health data for the Biodynamics and Human Performance Center.
 
Most of Murphy’s work stems from noninvasive techniques involved with human subjects. However, since COVID-19 the lab has lost its ability to have physical subjects.
 
Understanding innovative advancements is essential for learning sensors and their limitations. 
 
“Luckily, there's a standard procedure for designing technology and most of it isn't changing that rapidly in the market right now. If anything, it's improving rather than differentiating: such as camera sensors and revolution,” Murphy said. “In today's technology, we have more computing power that is  faster with sophisticated analysis.”
 
Even though research indicates smart devices offer a reasonable degree of accuracy, they do not substitute the standards of a clinical setting or a sleep laboratory.
 
“Anything where you’re trying to make a judgement based on data requires some kind of algorithm for your program or application to come from,” Murphy said.  “They play a large role from the designers' standpoint, whoever creates the app on wearable devices develops a claim based on their sensor measurements.” 
 
Murphy believes the' fit' is the biggest inaccuracy of wearable devices when tracking health.  He made an analogy to the reliability of ECG readings on skin that needs to be properly prepped with shaving or gel application.
 
“This has always been an issue when tracking any biomedical sensors doing surface measurements,” Murphy said. 
 
Even more, Apple and Fitbit products mention the proper fit of their device is very important to receive precise information.

“Sensors have an inherent limitation on what they can detect. If it’s a poor fit, that contributes to error,” Murphy said. 

Can Running Actually Be Easy?

 By: Zoey Pittman 

By: Zoey Pittman 

When you think of heart-health, Honey Nut Cheerios and running so fast your heart feels like it’ll burst out of your chest probably comes to mind. However, there are other ways to achieve cardiovascular health without your heart feeling like it is going to explode every time you run. 

Influencers like Andrew Huberman, a neuroscientist, and Nick Bare, CEO of Nick Bare Nutrition, often talk about the benefits of Zone Two cardio with how it can not only improve one’s health, but also improve endurance. 

Cardio is any exercise that strengthens the heart, Dr. Gary Elkon, cardiologist, explained. There are five different zones that the heart works at during an exercise and each zone is targeted for a specific purpose during an elite runner’s training. 

Zone one is light exercise, like a brisk walk. Zone two is an easy, conversational pace. zone three, is still conversational but becomes harder to talk. 

Zone four is running at a pace that you can not hold for long, think about almost red lining a car, and zone five is an all-out sprint, the car has reached the red line.

There are formulas to use to give an estimate of an individual’s max aerobic, meaning muscles are still using oxygen to run (subtract age from 220) based on their age. Smart watch devices such as Garmin and Coro also give a projection of a person’s heart rate zones based on the formulas the watches use. 

“I believe that the lower heart rate zones are a way to allow people who are not particularly active to maintain a good lifestyle,” Dr. Elkon said. 

With zone two cardio, it is easy enough for someone to maintain for long periods of time while also preventing injury, but also challenging for people who are beginning to exercise and not over exert themselves. 

The levels of heart rate zones that are individualized for people. For instance, someone who is an experienced runner may be able to run with a heart rate of 150 bpm, which is zone two for them. 

Although someone is just starting out running, may not be able to comfortably hold a heart rate the same as the elite runners. Therefore they have two different levels of zone two cardio. 

“You do not have to go from zero to 100 in your car to get from A to B. You can do that by going from zero to 40, and the same applies for heart rate training,” Dr. Elkon said. 

While the idea of zone two training is great, there are other things to consider that can impact your heart rate daily. 

“For the general population, I recommend a little bit of both. I think there is a purpose of doing a little bit of elevated zone two training,” Danielle Johnson said, who is a personal trainer. 

Stress, medications, environment, how much sleep a person got can all play a part in elevating the heart rate. This is when solely running off the numbers can become a little tricky.

“Going by the numbers can be challenging because of the different variables, but going by conversation pace is easier to follow,” Brittany Taylor said, who is a run coach. 

Relying on a watch to determine if one’s heart rate is staying in zone two is like putting all the eggs in one basket. Watches are not always accurate, although still a good tool to use for training, but going by feel is also a good assurance. 

A person does not necessarily need a watch that tracks their heart rate to know if they are running in zone two, they can figure out if they are going at a zone two pace because it feels easy. 

The idea of zone two cardio is to alway the body to build muscular endurance without overworking itself. Using the concept of running at a conversion pace, can help ensure that the runner is staying in that easy, lower heart rate zone. 

A runner, running too fast will not be able to hold a conversation while their heart rate is in zone four and beating at 175 bpm. 

Zone two, which has been established as easy cardio, is a zone that helps strengthen the heart to pump blood more efficiently, which will also help lower blood pressure, according to Johnson. 

Doing lower heart rate training will not in itself make the runner faster, but it will build an aerobic foundation, allow the body to recover from anaerobic speed training (muscles are working without oxygen), which will improve a runner’s speed in the long run. 

“Watches are great for when it is hot because you can keep more of an eye on your heart rate not getting too high, but it is always a good idea to go by your conversion pace which helps keep the easy runs easy,” said Taylor. 

Turf Wars: Is Synthetic Turf Grass Safe?

 

Pictured is the synthetic turf grass, located at Georgia Southern's Anthony P. Tippins Training Facility, that many athletes train on during their season.  

By: Emily Potter

"Will my child be playing on a turf field?" was a popular question asked this year to Bulloch County Recreational soccer coach Owen Buff. 

"This year was my first year coaching youth soccer for the Rec. department," Buff said. "I was shocked at the first team meeting when a mom asked if her child would be playing on turf or not, I didn't know that was even a concern."  

Synthetic turf grass has become a staple in sporting fields, community parks, and playgrounds across the country. In 2019, it was recorded that in the U.S. there were roughly around 12,000 synthetic turf fields, according to news blog Beyond Pesticides.  

What is synthetic turf grass?

To simply put it, synthetic turf grass looks like real grass but instead is composed of green, plastic blades -that look like the real thing- and a filling that is a mixture of crumb rubber, flexible plastic pellets, and sand, according to New York State Department of Health.  

This artificial grass is used all over the U.S. and has become increasingly a new norm, especially in urban areas.

Synthetic turf grass is not a new invention when it comes to being used in sporting facilities, playgrounds, or public outdoor spaces. It has been used since its introduction in the 1960s, according to the Synthetic Turf Council (STC). However, there is a new question that has been raised: is synthetic turf grass safe for athlete's health?  

Parents, athletes, and even coaches have concerns of playing on synthetic turf grass due to the unknown affects of chemicals used within synthetic turf filling can have on an individual's health long term. 

"As a former collegiate soccer player, coach, and now father, I have seen the conversation around the safety of synthetic grass become more and more heavily talked about," Omar Morales, former soccer player and coach said. "I know parents of kids on my children's soccer team discusses its safety all the time on facebook soccer groups."

But what's the cause of concern? PFAS. 

PFAS stands for per- and polufluoroalkyl substances and are a group of man-made chemicals. These chemicals can be found in different consumer, commercial, and industrial industries. 

Scientific studies have shown that exposure to some PFAS in the environment may be linked to harmful health effects in humans and animals, according to the United States Environmental Protection Agency.  

"This is the concern many parents have about turf, they are worried about these chemicals found in the turf rubber to be linked to cancer," Morales said. "But this is all they just hear about from a crazy post on Facebook."

Although there seems to be much of a concern from parents, there seems to be little concern from the athletes themselves.

Walker Bradberry, Georgia Southern Football punter and kicker, has been playing football for eight years. As a collegiate athlete with years of experience, it comes to a surprise that Bradberry has never heard of PFAS before.  

"I have been playing on turf since my senior year of high school and have had some good and bad experiences on artificial turf," Bradberry said. "I have heard about a lot of issues when it comes to turf burn and the cleanliness of turf but I haven't ever heard of PFA chemicals."

For many athletes, like Bradberry, they seem to not be concerned if there is a health risk involved in playing their sport. They would rather simply just play.

Trace Morales, son of Omar Morales and also a soccer player, has also never heard about the concern with PFAS in turf but doesn't think much of it.

"I haven't heard of PFAS chemicals before, but as a player, you never really think too much about the risks and dangers...you just play," Morales said.

Research is still being conducted and studied in order to better understand PFAS and their effects on human health.

However, there are thousands of PFAS chemicals that are found in many different consumer, commercial, and industrial products. This makes it challenging to study and assess the potential human health risks, according to the EPA. 

A recent report published by the EPA in April 2024, reaffirms the safety of synthetic turf sports fields that use crumb rubber infill. For agencies like the STC, this is exciting data to share with those who are concerned with PFAS and is considered a breakthrough in the research done on PFAS before.

"We were pleased to see that in the EPA report it reaffirms what other research has shown, that synthetic turf and its system components are safe," Synthetic Turf Council CEO Melanie Taylor said. 

The Synthetic Turf Council was founded in 2003, and their mission is to lead, educate, and advocate for the synthetic turf industry. With turf being so widely used, is is clear to see why a council is in-place to help protect a multimillion-dollar industry. 

"Synthetic turf systems unlock thousands of hours of additional play across America, save millions of gallons of water annually, and provide a more consistent playing surface." Taylor said. This is why it has become so prevalent across the U.S.  

Although new research points to PFAS being more than likely safer than originally thought to be, turf grass still has physical effects on athlete's health. Turf grass has been linked to joint injuries, turf rubber in eyes, and turf burn. 

"Turf is a lot tougher than real grass, so I have seen and experienced more injuries on turf than I have on regular grass," Morales said. "I have experienced a sprained AC joint in my shoulder after landing on a turf field." 

Bradberry also recalls in his experience that turf for other football players raises a lot of injury risk. 

"It raises the risk of injury especially for some positions such as wide receivers, running backs, and cornerbacks," Bradberry said. "Sometimes for kickers, certain turf fields - not Georgia Southern - can be very hard and can cause issues with our joints and can hurt to kick on."

Although the benefits and research on synthetic turf seems to make strides to being safe, there are still few parents who are not fully bought into the idea of turf grass playing fields. Therefore, the "turf wars" is still up for debate.

As for Buff's 8u soccer team mentioned earlier, they finished their season playing eight games on good ole regular grass.

"I am kinda glad we didn't play on turf fields, I think my kids would've been more interested in playing or eating the rubber filler than playing soccer," Buff Said.

Bird Flu in Cow Farms

 

    Photo taken by: Willow Handley

 

Could your hamburger meat and milk be infected with a strain of bird flu? Hopefully not. 

 

H5N1 is a strain of Bird Flu that is causing outbreaks within the poultry and dairy industry. This strain has been around since 1997. Bird Flu is defined by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention as “the disease caused by infection with avian (bird) influenza (flu) Type A viruses.”

 

The main concern with the virus is its ability to cross barriers between species, bird to human. 

 

As of April 30, 2024 there have been 36 dairy herds affected throughout 9 states according to the CDC. The CDC also confirmed that the first person who tested positive after having exposure to H5N1 was in Texas. The first instance of mammal to human transmission was in 2022 when someone in Colorado tested positive via nasal swab for a different strain. 

 

This virus can be most commonly seen in chickens, ducks, geese, and hens. These viruses can be spread to other birds, animals, and although it is rare, even humans. Humans who work with poultry are the ones who get infected.

 

If humans get infected with bird flu, some of the side effects include; cough, headaches, difficulty breathing, fatigue, body aches, and many more. Other diseases humans can get from animals include rabies, trichinosis, and brucellosis, etc. 

 

There are several ways in which humans can get infected. They can get it through direct contact, contaminated surfaces and the bird flu virus in the air whether in droplets or dust.  

 

Associate Professor of Epidemiology at Georgia Southern University, Jessica Schwind, gave us some helpful statistics to understand the severity of this disease. She said “From January 1, 2003 to March 28 2024, only 888 cases of human infection with avian influenza (H5N1) were reported in 23 countries. Out of the 888 known cases, 463 were fatal. This equates to a catastrophic case fatality rate of 52% once H5N1 gets into humans.”

 

Justin Bennett, an agricultural teacher in middle Georgia, oversees students and helps them take care of swine livestock. He explained that “bacterial and viral infections can arise from different people entering the barn and working with the animals.” 

 

Bennett gave the example of students and parents bringing in these diseases on their shoes and clothing, then passing it to the animals. 

All unprotected contact with wild birds or animals should be avoided if at all possible. Even if the animals don’t look sick, they could still be carrying several kinds of diseases. 

 

If contact is made, wash your hand with soap and water. If you work with a large number of animals, you should wear a N95 mask to help protect you from the airborne portion of the virus.   

 

Personal Protective Equipment or PPE is recommended because “much of the risk to humans occurs during the removal of dead birds or clean up of spaces where infected birds were housed” according to the AgriSafe Network. 

 

Pigs, if fallen ill, will not eat or drink water. Cows, however, can have low appetite, reduced milk production, and may have an abnormal appearance of milk such as being thick or discolored. 

 

Even though the virus might be as deadly in cows as it is with birds, if an infected cow’s milk gets processed and consumed it could cause humans to fall ill. This is why humans are advised not to drink raw milk or eat raw-based cheese, it may have harmful bacteria according to the FDA. 

 

If the animal is infected they will be given antibiotics and electrolytes to help cure the disease. Bennett said that “an antibiotic many have a 14-day withdrawal which means it will take 14 days for all the medication to exit the animal’s body. During this period of time the animal cannot be sent to the slaughter.” 

 

This is to ensure that humans don’t consume any product containing the antibiotics or the disease itself, if the medicine hasn’t cured it yet.

 

To take extra precaution, make sure you are not drinking any raw milk that came straight from the farm. Also, if you are cooking meat or chicken, make sure that you are cooking it to completion. The New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services says that “all parts of the chicken need to be fully cooked to a temp. of 165 degrees F – this temp. will kill the H5N1 as well as other illnesses.”