Re: Re: Raw Milk - the downsides w/repost

[Guest guest]

I wanted to add something regarding raw milk,

though... previous post w/ Cheryl's comments in

quotes. Just keep in mind... I believe these are

regarding large dairy farms. The other side of the

story from pro-raw milk people is that the cows bred

for super-milk production and given hormones and feed

designed to increase their milk supply (those enormous

teats) are first, unhealthy and fed poorly, and the

high amount of milk production creates chronic

mastitis, and their milk can be so full of puss that

they require constant antibiotics, which STILL does

not even keep the infections at bay. (Of course,

those antiotics cross over into the milk, and then

they kill our good flora, too, don't they??)

There are many ways to obtain higher nutrition and

better enzyme content without giving our kids dairy,

though, and that's the area I'm looking into for

myself and then my kids. I would, however, consider

butters and yogurts and things for myself.

Here's the repost:

" Since a recent link mentioned raw milk I thought I'd

post a few current

abstracts on the subject plus a few on BLV. "

J Dairy Sci. 2004 Sep;87(9):2822-2830.

Prevalence of Salmonellae, Listeria monocytogenes, and

Fecal Coliforms in Bulk Tank Milk on US Dairies.

Van Kessel JS, Karns JS, Gorski L, McCluskey BJ,

Perdue ML.

USDA-ARS, Beltsville, MD 20705.

The objective of this study was to determine the

prevalence of

Salmonella, Listeria monocytogenes, and fecal

coliforms in bulk tank milk in the United States. As

part of the NAHMS Dairy 2002 survey, 861 bulk tank

milk samples were collected from farms in 21 states.

Milk was directly plated on selective agars for direct

bacterial enumeration and was enriched in selective

broths to increase detection sensitivity. Somatic cell

counts (SCC) and standard plate counts (SPC) were also

determined. Coliforms were detected in 95% (818 of

860) of the samples, and the average SCC was 295,000

cells/mL. Twenty-two samples (2.6%) were

culture-positive for Salmonella, and 9 serotypes were

identified: Montevideo (n = 7), Newport (n = 4),

Muenster (n = 2), Meleagridis (n = 2), Cerro (n = 2),

44:Z36 (Z38) (n = 2), Dublin (n = 1), Anatum (n = 1),

and 9, 12:nonmo-tile (n = 1). Listeria monocytogenes

was isolated from 56 (6.5%) samples, and serotyping of

these isolates yielded 5 serotypes (1/2a, 1/2b, 3b,

4b, and 4c). Of the L. monocytogenes isolates, 93%

were serotypes 1/2a, 1/2b, and 4b, the most

common human clinical isolates. Regional differences

in L.

monocytogenes and

Salmonella prevalence were observed, but more studies

are needed to

determine the validity of these differences. There

were no apparent

relationships between SCC or SPC and incidence of

Salmonella or L.

monocytogenes. Although the prevalence of L.

monocytogenes and

Salmonella

was low, these pathogens represent a potential risk to

consumers of raw

milk

and raw milk products.

PMID: 15375040 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

: Appl Environ Microbiol. 2004 Sep;70(9):5644-50.

Related Articles,

Links

Raw cow milk bacterial population shifts attributable

to refrigeration.

Lafarge V, Ogier JC, Girard V, Maladen V, Leveau JY,

Gruss A,

Delacroix-Buchet A.

Unite Composition et Hygiene des Produits Laitiers,

Agence Francaise de

Securite Sanitaire des Aliments, 39-41 rue du 11

novembre 1918, 94700

Maisons Alfort, France. v.lafarge@...

We monitored the dynamic changes in the bacterial

population in milk

associated with refrigeration. Direct analyses of DNA

by using temporal

temperature gel electrophoresis (TTGE) and denaturing

gradient gel

electrophoresis (DGGE) allowed us to make accurate

species assignments

for

bacteria with low-GC-content (low-GC%) (<55%) and

medium- or high-GC%

(>55%)

genomes, respectively. We examined raw milk samples

before and after

24-h

conservation at 4 degrees C. Bacterial identification

was facilitated

by

comparison with an extensive bacterial reference

database (

approximately

150 species) that we established with DNA fragments of

pure bacterial

strains. Cloning and sequencing of fragments missing

from the database

were

used to achieve complete species identification.

Considerable evolution

of

bacterial populations occurred during conservation at

4 degrees C. TTGE

and

DGGE are shown to be a powerful tool for identifying

the main bacterial

species of the raw milk samples and for monitoring

changes in bacterial

populations during conservation at 4 degrees C. The

emergence of

psychrotrophic bacteria such as Listeria spp. or

Aeromonas hydrophila

is

demonstrated.

PMID: 15345453 [PubMed - in process]

Annu Rev Microbiol. 2004 Jun 2 [Epub ahead of print]

Related Articles,

Links

e's Disease, Inflammatory Bowel Disease, and

Mycobacterium

paratuberculosis.

Chacon O, Bermudez LE, Barletta RG.

Department of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences,

University of

Nebraska,

Lincoln, Lincoln, NE 68588; Seccion de Bacteriologia

Corporacion para

Investigaciones Biologicas (CIB), Carrera, Medellin,

Colombia

ochacon@..., Department of Biomedical

Sciences, College of

Veterinary Medicine, Oregon State University,

Corvallis, OR 97331

luiz.bermudez@..., Department of

Veterinary and Biomedical

Sciences, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Lincoln, NE

68588-0905

rbarletta@...

e's disease is a chronic diarrhea affecting all

ruminants.

Mycobacterium

avium subsp. paratuberculosis (MAP), a slow-growing

mycobacteria, is

the

etiologic agent. There is also a concern that MAP

might be a causative

agent

of some cases of inflammatory bowel disease in human

beings, especially

Crohn's disease. Food products including pasteurized

bovine milk have

been

suggested as potential sources of human infection.

This review

addresses

microbial factors that may contribute to its

pathogenicity. In

addition, the

experimental evidence defining MAP as the cause of

e's disease and,

the

issues and controversies surrounding its potential

pathogenic role in

human

beings are discussed. Expected online publication date

for the Annual

Review

of Microbiology Volume 58 is September 8, 2004. Please

see

http://www.annualreviews.org/catalog/pub_dates.asp for

revised

estimates.

PMID: 15355186 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Prev Vet Med. 2003 Dec 12;61(4):249-62. Related

Articles, Links

Association between bovine-leukosis virus

seroprevalence and herd-level

productivity on US dairy farms.

Ott SL, R, Wells SJ.

USDA, Centers for Epidemiology and Animal Health, 2150

Centre Avenue,

Building B, Mail Stop 2E5, Fort , CO

80526-8117, USA.

stephen.l.ott@...

Bovine-leukosis virus (BLV; also termed

'bovine-leukemia virus') is a

retrovirus that primarily affects lymphoid tissue of

dairy and beef

cattle.

Our objective was to investigate the association

between BLV infection

and

annual value of production (AVP) on dairy herds within

the United

States, as

part of the USDA National Animal Health Monitoring

System's 1996 dairy

study. 1006 herds (in 20 states) with at least 30

dairy cows were

interviewed during 1996. The agar-gel immunodiffusion

test was used to

detect serum antibodies to BLV. 10-40 cows from each

herd were tested

and

each tested cow was classified as negative or positive

based on results

of a

single test. A multivariable regression model was used

with the 976

herds

with complete data for analysis. When compared to

herds with no

test-positive cows, herds with test-positive cows

produced 218 kg per

cow

(i.e. 3%) less milk. The average reduction in AVP was

$59 per cow for

test-positive herds relative to test-negative herds.

For the dairy

industry

as a whole, BLV seropositivity was associated with

loss to producers of

$285

million and $240 million for consumers. Most of this

$525 million

industry

loss was due to reduced milk production in

test-positive herds.

PMID: 14623410 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

AIDS Res Hum Retroviruses. 2003 Dec;19(12):1105-13.

Humans have antibodies reactive with Bovine leukemia

virus.

Buehring GC, Philpott SM, Choi KY.

School of Public Health, University of California,

Berkeley, California

94720, USA. buehring@...

Bovine leukemia virus (BLV) is an oncogenic retrovirus

that commonly

infects

cattle and causes B cell leukosis in 1-5% of infected

cattle.

BLV-infected

cells are present in marketed beef and dairy products.

In the decade

after

the discovery of BLV in 1969, studies using agar gel

immunodiffusion

and

complement fixation assays failed to find antibodies

to BLV in human

sera.

This led to the prevailing opinion that exposure of

humans to BLV

and/or the

potential for infection are not significant and

therefore the virus is

not a

public health hazard. We reexamined this issue using

more sensitive

immunological techniques available today. Using

immunoblotting to test

the

sera of 257 humans for antibodies of four isotypes

(IgG1, IgM, IgA, and

IgG4) to the BLV capsid antigen (p24), we detected at

least one

antibody

isotype reactive with BLV in 74% of the human sera

tested. The

specificity

of the reactivity was strongly suggested by

competition studies and by

ruling out cross-reacting antibodies to other chronic

human viruses.

Our results suggest that antibodies reactive with the

BLV capsid antigen may serve as a biomarker for

exposure to BLV and this exposure may be widespread.

The results do not necessarily mean that humans are

actually infected with BLV; the antibodies could be a

response to heat-denatured BLV antigens consumed in

food. They do, however, suggest that further studies

in this area could be important.

PMID: 14709247 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

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