Social media users have been sharing images of meat with spots on it and claiming it is a deadly and dangerous animal tuberculosis virus. This claim is misleading: when cooked properly, animal tuberculosis in meat is not harmful to humans.
Reuters Fact Check. REUTERS
Examples can be seen here and here .
One posts description reads: Dear meat buyer, if you seen these bubbles, you should know its blebs containing deadly and dangerous tuberculosis virus, please help us to spread this to keep people safe. The claim is referring to bovine tuberculosis, also known as Mycobacterium bovis (M. bovis). The bacterium is found in cattle and other animals, including deer, bison and elk.
Thephotographs insomepostsshow bovine tuberculosis.Two photographs in these claims(anexample here )stem from aPurdue University Forestry and Natural Resources paperon bovine tuberculosis in deervisible on pagethree here .
The image fromanotherpostclaiming to show animal tuberculosis here is featuredontwoArabic language websitesthat identifythe image as showingpinworm eggsacs( http://www.elbalad.news/2749237andbit.ly/3cB82KM ).
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game advises that cookingmeat kills tapeworm parasites ( here ).WebMD, an online publisher of news and information pertaining to human health,explains people can get infected if they eat or drink something that contains tapeworm eggs or larvae, like raw or undercooked beef or pork.( here )Pinworm infections, on the other hand, are not usually spread by eatingmeat,WebMD andthe New York Department of Healthsay( here ).
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)says thatmost tuberculosis cases in the United States are caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tuberculosis), but that M.boviscan also cause tuberculosis in humans and affect various parts of thehumanbody( here ).
Sometimes, a person infected with M. bovis may not appear sick, have symptoms or be contagious to others. The CDC says that, when symptoms manifest, they can include fever, weight loss and coughing, depending on which part of the body is affected. The disease is treated with antibiotics.
Humans are infected by consuming unpasteurized and contaminated dairy products. Infection can also take place from direct contact with awound,or inhaling bacteriafrom an infected animal. M.boviscauses less than 2% of the total number of tuberculosis cases(less than 230 cases per year)in the United States and most humans are at very low risk, the CDCsays( here ).Those who work with animals or products from the animals, such as farmers, butchers and hunters, may be at increased risk.
The California Department of Food and Agriculturesayson its website that the bacteriaarekilled when meat iscookedand milk is pasteurized.( here )
A U.S. Department of AgricultureFood Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) spokesman told Reuters via email thatmeat must be properly cooked and handled to avoid animal to human transmission of M. bovis. Safe cooking guidelinesfor meatby theU.S.government can be seen here .
The U.S. Bureau of Animal Industry began a national tuberculosis eradication program in 1917,sharplyreducinglevels of M.bovisinfection(see Bovine Tuberculosis History tab here ).
Russ Daly, extension veterinarian and professor in the veterinary and biomedical sciences department at South Dakota State University,addressedpublic health concerns about bovine tuberculosis in aJune 2020article ( here ).Dalysaid: The general public is protected from bovine tuberculosis by the federal and state meat inspection system identifying TB in slaughtered animals. Cooking and pasteurization will kill M.bovisin meat and milk.
Partly false. While some of these images do show meat infected with bovine tuberculosis, meat cooked following health guidelines renders these cases of infection harmless to humans.
This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our fact-checking work here .
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Fact check: Bovine tuberculosis is uncommon and safely cooked meat is not dangerous to humans - Reuters
