to put things in perspective

[Guest guest]

here's one of the few pieces of hard evidence to do with people actually getting sick from drinking raw milk. Even this one has an element of doubt

It illustrates the risk factor : 18 families with four in each = say = 75 people, over ten years .... thus, many thousands of portions of raw milk consumed with no untoward incident, at least nothing serious. Then two children get very seriously ill

Never forget this part of the Campaign for REAL MILK. Our position though, is "but set that against other proven risks in the food supply, which go unmentioned, and are acceptable

after studing this topic for the last eight years, and drinking lots of it, I'm convinced that fresh whole raw milk, from healthy cows and handled according to the highest standards, is a far safer food than anything you can name

______________________________________

Public Health Agency of Canada

Volume 28-011 January 2002

ESCHERICHIA COLI O157 OUTBREAK ASSOCIATED WITH THE INGESTION OF UNPASTEURIZED GOAT'S MILK IN BRITISH COLUMBIA, 2001

Public health inspectors from the Central Vancouver Island Health Region (CVIHR) investigated an outbreak of Escherichia coli O157:H7 in August 2001. The source of the implicated goat's milk in this outbreak was from a co-operative farm south of Nanaimo, on Vancouver Island, British Columbia (B.C.). Nubian goats were co-owned by 18 families at the time of the outbreak. The product label on the distributed milk read as follows: "milked under the strictest sanitary conditions. If pasteurization is desired, heat at 72.8E C for 30 seconds then refrigerate". Unpasteurized milk from this facility had been distributed to participating families for approximately 10 years.

E. coli O157:H7 was first isolated from a 1 year old child in a stool specimen submitted to the Nanaimo Hospital on 14 August, 2001. Follow-up by public health inspectors implicated either a visit to a petting farm 5 August, 2001 or the consumption of unpasteurized goat's milk. No other food source seemed to be implicated. Two other children from the same family (ages 2 and 7) also became ill with bloody diarrhea within 2 to 4 days of the first child falling ill.

The family with the three ill children had joined the co-operative 3 months earlier. Two children from another family, visiting the co-operative farm, also became infected. Two of these five infected children were hospitalized and developed hemolytic-uremic syndrome.

Two 1 litre glass bottles of milk from a batch of seven bottles purchased by the first family on 5 August, 2001 were sent to the Food Poisoning section, British Columbia Centre for Disease Control Society (BCCDCS) Laboratory Services on 17 August, 2001. Milk was enriched in Doyle's broth overnight at 44.5EC and the following morning one bottle was found presumptively positive by VIP® (BioControl Systems, Inc.), a visual immunoprecipitate assay that detects enterohemorraghic E. coli. Subsequent isolation of typical colorless colonies on sorbitol MacConkey agar (E. coli O157:H7 does not ferment sorbitol) were identified as verotoxin gene positive E. coli O157:H7 in the Enterics section, BCCDCS Laboratory Services. All three stools samples received from infected individuals matched the fingerprinting by pulsed field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) subtyping pattern found in the goat's milk

Of interest, fifteen typical colonies picked from direct plates (before enrichment) were not found to be E. coli O157:H7 biochemically. This observation, and failure to isolate E. coli from the second bottle of milk indicates the pathogenic E. coli O157:H7 was present in low numbers in the milk

On 23 August, 2001 an advisory for raw milk suspected in this E. coli O157:H7 outbreak was issued by the Acting Medical Health Officer in the CVIHR. No further cases were identified. Commercial pasteurization of milk was first introduced in 1895 after Louis Pasteur discovered the process inactivated spoilage organisms in wine. Today milk is pasteurized both to destroy pathogenic bacteria that may be present, and to improve the shelf life(1). Pasteurization of milk is required by law in B.C.

Although the link between consumption of raw milk and disease is well established for several organisms (E. coli, Campylobacter, Listeria, Salmonella, Staphylococcus, Yersinia)(2), there are still uninformed individuals who persist in the belief that raw dairy products are healthier, and that pasteurized products are less beneficial, and even harmful.

References

Wang G, Zhao T, Doyle MP. Survival and growth of Escherichia coli O157:H7 in unpasteurized and pasteurized milk. J Food Protection 1997;60:610-13.

Vasavada PC. Pathogenic bacteria in milk - a review. J Dairy Science 1987;71:2809-16

Source: L McIntyre, BSc, Supervisor, Food Poisoning, Laboratory Services; J Fung, BSc, MSc, Supervisor, Environmental Microbiology,; A Paccagnella, BSc, RT, Supervisor, Enterics; J Isaac-Renton, MD, FRCP©, Director, Laboratory Services, British Columbia Centre for Disease Control Society, Vancouver; F Rockwell, MD, FRCP©, Ministry of Health; B Emerson, MD, FRCP©, Acting Medical Health Officer; T Preston, CPHI©, Deputy Chief Environmental Health Officer, Central Vancouver Island Health Region, Nanaimo, British Columbia

[Guest guest]

It appears to be more of a bottling/handling problem than a milk issue anyways. If only one bottle of the two tested positive.here's one of the few pieces of hard evidence to do with people actually getting sick from drinking raw milk.  Even this one has an element of doubtIt illustrates the risk factor : 18 families with four in each = say  = 75 people, over ten years ....  thus,  many thousands of portions of raw milk consumed with no untoward incident, at least nothing serious. Then two children get very seriously illNever forget this part of  the Campaign for REAL MILK.  Our position though, is "but set that against other proven  risks in the food supply, which go unmentioned, and are acceptable after studing this topic for the last eight years,  and drinking lots of it,  I'm convinced that fresh whole raw milk, from healthy cows and  handled according to the highest standards,  is a far safer food than anything you can name ______________________________________Public Health Agency of CanadaVolume 28-011 January 2002ESCHERICHIA COLI O157 OUTBREAK ASSOCIATED WITH THE INGESTION OF UNPASTEURIZED GOAT'S MILK IN BRITISH COLUMBIA, 2001Public health inspectors from the Central Vancouver Island Health Region (CVIHR) investigated an outbreak of Escherichia coli O157:H7 in August 2001. The source of the implicated goat's milk in this outbreak was from a co-operative farm south of Nanaimo, on Vancouver Island, British Columbia (B.C.). Nubian goats were co-owned by 18 families at the time of the outbreak. The product label on the distributed milk read as follows: "milked under the strictest sanitary conditions. If pasteurization is desired, heat at 72.8E C for 30 seconds then refrigerate". Unpasteurized milk from this facility had been distributed to participating families for approximately 10 years.E. coli O157:H7 was first isolated from a 1 year old child in a stool specimen submitted to the Nanaimo Hospital on 14 August, 2001. Follow-up by public health inspectors implicated    either   a visit to a petting farm 5 August, 2001   or   the consumption of unpasteurized goat's milk. No other food source seemed to be implicated. Two other children from the same family (ages 2 and 7) also became ill with bloody diarrhea within 2 to 4 days of the first child falling ill.The family with the three ill children had joined the co-operative 3 months earlier. Two children from another family, visiting the co-operative farm, also became infected. Two of these five infected children were hospitalized and developed hemolytic-uremic syndrome.Two 1 litre glass bottles of milk from a batch of seven bottles purchased by the first family on 5 August, 2001 were sent to the Food Poisoning section, British Columbia Centre for Disease Control Society (BCCDCS) Laboratory Services on 17 August, 2001. Milk was enriched in Doyle's broth overnight at 44.5EC and the following morning one bottle was found presumptively positive by VIP®(BioControl Systems, Inc.), a visual immunoprecipitate assay that detects enterohemorraghic E. coli. Subsequent isolation of typical colorless colonies on sorbitol MacConkey agar (E. coli O157:H7 does not ferment sorbitol) were identified as verotoxin gene positive E. coli O157:H7 in the Enterics section, BCCDCS Laboratory Services. All three stools samples received from infected individuals matched the fingerprinting by pulsed field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) subtyping pattern found in the goat's milkOf interest, fifteen typical colonies picked from direct plates (before enrichment) were not found to be E. coli O157:H7 biochemically. This observation, and failure to isolate E. coli from the second bottle of milk indicates the pathogenic E. coliO157:H7 was present in low numbers in the milkOn 23 August, 2001 an advisory for raw milk suspected in this E. coli O157:H7 outbreak was issued by the Acting Medical Health Officer in the CVIHR. No further cases were identified. Commercial pasteurization of milk was first introduced in 1895 after Louis Pasteur discovered the process inactivated spoilage organisms in wine. Today milk is pasteurized both to destroy pathogenic bacteria that may be present, and to improve the shelf life(1). Pasteurization of milk is required by law in B.C.Although the link between consumption of raw milk and disease is well established for several organisms (E. coli, Campylobacter, Listeria, Salmonella, Staphylococcus, Yersinia)(2), there are still uninformed individuals who persist in the belief that raw dairy products are healthier, and that pasteurized products are less beneficial, and even harmful.ReferencesWang G, Zhao T, Doyle MP. Survival and growth of Escherichia coli O157:H7 in unpasteurized and pasteurized milk. J Food Protection 1997;60:610-13.Vasavada PC. Pathogenic bacteria in milk - a review. J Dairy Science 1987;71:2809-16Source: L McIntyre, BSc, Supervisor, Food Poisoning, Laboratory Services; J Fung, BSc, MSc, Supervisor, Environmental Microbiology,; A Paccagnella, BSc, RT, Supervisor, Enterics; J Isaac-Renton, MD, FRCP©, Director, Laboratory Services, British Columbia Centre for Disease Control Society, Vancouver; F Rockwell, MD, FRCP©, Ministry of Health; B Emerson, MD, FRCP©, Acting Medical Health Officer; T Preston, CPHI©, Deputy Chief Environmental Health Officer, Central Vancouver Island Health Region, Nanaimo, British Columbia