The farmer who supplied raw milk that sickened dozens who attended a football team’s potluck dinner in Durand, Wisc. could face penalties or other enforcement actions, according to a local news report. The farmer, whose name has not been released by health officials, did not tell attendees that the milk was not pasteurized.
At least 38 people, many of them high school students, contracted Campylobacter infections from the raw milk. Some students and athletes were so sick they were hospitalized. Two football games were canceled because so many players were seriously ill.
After students recovered from the initial illness, families were left with medical bills and worries about long-term complications that Campylobacter infections can trigger such as reactive arthritis which causes painful swelling of the joints and Guillain-Barré Syndrome, (GBS) which is characterized by the sudden onset of paralysis that can last weeks, months or years.
“People who develop GBS as a result of ingesting Campylobacter often have life-long complications,” said Fred Pritzker, national food safety attorney and publisher of Food Poisoning Bulletin.
Campylobacter is a pathogen that is transferred via the fecal-oral route meaning those who develop infections have had food or beverages contaminated with microscopic amounts of animal feces. Pasteurization kills Campylobacter and other bacteria that cause disease. Because young people are especially vulnerable to food poisoning infections, public health officials recommend that they only consume pasteurized milk.
Lab tests that identify the genetic “fingerprint” of bacteria showed that the Campylobacter strain found on the farm that was a match to the strain that sickened pot luck attendees.
The state health department is expected to release its final report about the outbreak soon. The agriculture department will use information in that report to determine what, if any, enforcement action should be taken with the farmer.
