Today the Pennsylvania Department of Health reported five more cases of Campylobacter confirmed that are linked to raw milk from Family Cow dairy.
The latest case breakdown is:
- Maryland (4)
- New Jersey (3)
- Pennsylvania (56)
- West Virginia
Symptoms of Campylobacter, known as campylobacteriosis, are bloody diarrhea, fever, vomiting, nausea, headache, muscle pain, and and abdominal pain. Most cases don’t require hospitalization, but some can be severe or life-threatening.
Children under the age of five and young adults age 15-29 are more affected. Long-term complications include Guillain-Barré Syndrome, which can cause paralysis; about 1 in 1000 cases leads to Guillain-Barré. Reiter’s syndrome, a type of reactive arthritis, is another condition that can affect the knees and lower back.
This is the timeline of the outbreak:
- On January 28, 2012, the Pennsylvania Department of Health announced that six cases of Campylobacter were associated with raw milk from Family Cow dairy.
- On January 30, 2012, the outbreak grew to 12 cases in two states.
- The outbreak grew to 20 people on January 31, 2012.
- On February 2, 2012, the Maryland Department of Health confirmed the presence of Campylobacter jejuni in unopened samples of Your Family Cow raw milk. The outbreak grew to 35 people in three states. The Pennsylvania Department of Health has still not released its lab reports on the unopened samples.
- The case count grew to 38 people in four states on February 3, 2012.
- On February 7, 2012 the cases count grew to 43, even as the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture cleared Shankstead Ecofarm to start raw milk sales again.
- On February 9, 2012, the outbreak grew to 51 people in four states.
- And on February 10, 2012, the outbreak grew to 60 people.
