Figure 1: Persistence of influenza virus in unpasteurized milk on inflation rubber liner and stainless steel.

A) Schematic of milking equipment and the materials tested for virus stability. Created in Biorender.com B) Viral titers of the cattle H5N1 virus diluted in unpasteurized milk and deposited as 10 1uL droplets onto the indicated surfaces. Droplets were recovered immediately post deposition (time 0) or 1 hour after aging at 70% relative humidity (RH). C) Comparison of log decay values of H5N1 and H1N1 virus in unpasteurized milk at 70% relative humidity for 1 hour on the two indicated materials. Log decay was calculated as a ratio of the viral titer at time 0 divided by the titer after 1 hour of aging. D) Viral titers of the H1N1 virus in unpasteurized milk on the two surfaces at 70% relative humidity for 0, 1, 3, or 5 hours of aging. In B-D, each symbol is an individual replicate of at least two biological replicates using two distinct lots of unpasteurized milk performed in technical triplicates. Virus titer was calculated by determining the traditional tissue culture infectious dose 50 (TCID₅₀) assay on Madin-Darby canine kidney cells. All raw data can be accessed at: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.7242034.v1.