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CDC: Raw milk contaminated with dangerous bacteria sold in four states
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The CDC issued another warning about raw milk, saying people who consumed products from a company called Udder Milk should see their doctor because of potential contamination with a dangerous pathogen that can cause miscarriage and other complications in pregnant women and severe illness in people with weakened immune systems.
In September, a New Jersey woman was sickened by Brucella abortus RB51 after drinking raw milk from the company, the CDC said. RB51 is a weakened strain of B. abortus that is used to vaccinate young female cows against the infection, which can cause abortions. In rare cases, cows shed RB51 into their milk. According to the CDC, the only way to avoid RB51 is to drink milk that has been decontaminated through the heat of pasteurization, which kills dangerous bacteria.
It was the second time in just over 2 months that the CDC issued a warning about RB51 in milk. In September, the agency said raw milk from the K-Bar Dairy in Paradise, Texas, also tested positive for the strain. One person was infected.
The CDC has not been able to track the source of the New Jersey woman’s infection because of the apparently secretive nature of Udder Milk’s operation. However, the agency believes the company delivers raw milk in Connecticut, New Jersey, New York and Rhode Island.
“The locations of the farms supplying Udder Milk are not known. Neither are the places where the company sells and distributes raw milk and other products,” the CDC said in a news release.
“Online information about Udder Milk points to members-only websites through which people purchase raw milk online and delivery sites that shift to avoid detection by public health officials. Selling and distributing raw milk and raw dairy products is illegal in New Jersey and selling it outside of the farm that produces it is illegal in New York. Farms that sell raw milk in New York also must have a permit to sell it.”
The CDC said any patients who have consumed raw milk or milk products from Udder Milk should tell a physician they may have been exposed to RB51, so they can be given the proper antibiotics to treat or cure the infection. RB51 is resistant to some antibiotics that may be used to prevent or treat brucellosis. The CDC recommends 21 days of doxycycline in addition to trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole or another suitable antimicrobial drug.
“Because health officials have no direct way to let people know they may have drunk contaminated milk, everyone who consumed milk from Udder Milk in the past 6 months should receive antibiotics now to avoid having long-term health effects from the bacteria,” William Bower, MD, team lead for the CDC group that investigates brucellosis, the illness caused by RB51, said in a news release.
In addition to seeing a physician, the CDC said people should check themselves daily for fever for 1 month after they last consumed Udder Milk products and watch for other brucellosis symptoms, including include muscle pain, lasting fatigue, arthritis, depression and swelling of the testicles, for 6 months.
Left untreated, the CDC said RB51 infection can result in long-term health problems like arthritis, heart problems, enlargement of the spleen or liver and, in rare cases, nervous system problems like meningitis. – by Gerard Gallagher
Reference:
CDC. Exposure to RB51 through raw milk or milk products: how to reduce risk of infection. 2017. https://www.cdc.gov/brucellosis/clinicians/rb51-raw-milk.html. Accessed November 21, 2017.
Disclosure: Bower reports no relevant financial disclosures.