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.