Hello all, Just received our copy of Discover magazine and fate had me open to a page with an article about BIV, bovine immunodeficiency virus. Has anyone else heard of this? BIV is running "rampant in dairy cattle in parts of the U.S." It has never been known to infect humans and may be an ancestor of HIV, having been discovered in 1969-- before AIDS was recognized. Studies are being conducted to see if BIV is spread through the semen of bulls who were exposed in the womb or from milk. It's thought that the disease has been on the rise because of the use of artificial insemination to impregnate dairy cows. The article ends with ' "If you have a single infected stud bull, and that animal is servicing tens of thousands of animal," says Coates, "then that's a tremendous reservoir of infection." ' Couldn't help but remember previous posts about babies getting switched in the hospital and nursing off the wrong mothers, and the panic and legal actions that ensued. It seems that recently breastfeeding has been portrayed as such a high-risk practice, because of the rare risks of being exposed to lead, pesticides, HIV, deadly dehydration, etc. Do you think the media will be as tempted to sensationalize and distort the facts about BIV? One can only hope... just kidding. ;) If you're interested in the article, the issue is dated Oct. 1995, page 28. Feel free to contact me if you can't get your hands on it. Always looking for facts to de-myth formula/ABM, Diana Dietz, RN, BSN P.S. There was also an article in our city newspaper a couple weeks ago about a cow bacteria, found in their intestines, that was also found in the mouths of humans with gum disease. Don't remember the name of the bacteria.