I'm not sure why the abstract about the ranch deaths is called "failed"
it simply says there were two organisms found in the animals. Either or
both may have been the cause of deaths. Both organisms could have been
killed by heat - cooking the dead turkeys. It's a quick step for avian
flu viruses from the raw turkey meat and guts onto the nose of a mink
and down into the lungs. BTW Baby (newborn) ferrets are very
susceptible to flu viruses- see
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7431374

Re raw versus cooked. This quote from the first concerns about bird
flu in 2006 "Preparing for the arrival of bird flu, the government on
Wednesday gave advice for making chicken safe to eat: Cook it to 165
degrees F." For getting rid of E. coli in a chicken you cook it to 160
degrees F.

The farmed mink had two strikes - flu virus and Ecoli. Presumably it
was difficult to tell which (or whether it was the combination) caused
the deaths since both were present in the lungs. I would assume if the
virus or bacteria came from the outside environment (the air, birds
flying by, sewage plant) the humans in that area would have gotten
sick as well - so it seems logical the mink got the infections from
their contaminated uncooked food. Raw food can be risky. I rinse my
vegetables/salads well.

Meryl

[Posted in FML 7360]