Despite evidence, the farm identified as the source of a Campylobacter raw milk outbreak that sickened dozens of people who attended a football banquet in Durand, Wisconsin is denying responsibility. Health officials say the outbreak strain found in stool samples taken from those who became ill is a genetic match to the strain found in samples collected from a dairy farm operated by Roland and Diana Reed in Arkansaw, Wis. Still, Diana Reed says, it could have been the chicken. “We need to do a lot of fact-finding before we start pointing fingers,” she told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Any day now, the Wisconsin Department of Health is expected to release its final report on the outbreak, which sickened so many football players two football games had to be canceled. The report will provide details of the outbreak stemming from the September 18 potluck. But here’s what we already know.
The Reeds provided raw milk for the banquet but did not tell everyone it was unpasteurized. Twenty six people who attended the potluck had lab confirmed cases of Campylobacter infections. As part of its the investigation, the Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS) interviewed all of the football team members and coaching staff who became ill and all of those who didn’t. All who were interviewed were asked about possible exposures including activities, water sources, foods and beverages in the days before they became ill.
“In a comparison of the interview responses from ill and well team members, consumption of raw milk was the only food item associated with illness,” health officials said. This alone is enough information to identify the milk as the source of the outbreak.
But because of interview results, DHS requested that the agriculture department collect cow manure specimens from the farm. Tests on these manure samples were positive for the same strain of Campylobacter found in the stool samples of the 26 potluck attendees with confirmed cases of campylobacteriosis.
To be clear, the lab tests show not only that there was Campylobacter in manure found on the farm and Campylobacter found in stool samples of football players, but that the same strain of Campylobacter, with its own unique “fingerprint” was found in both places. Reed says this strain is also found in poultry which wasn’t tested by health officials because it was all eaten at the banquet.
Ignorance and stupidity at work; do those selling and using unpasteurized milk also belong to the flat earth society?
Pasteurization of milk has been mandated since 1917 at least, in the USA.
Enough already!!!
Paul Richter MD