Wisconsin health officials say the source of a Campylobacter raw milk outbreak that sickened 38 people in Durand Wis. earlier this fall is a farm operated by Roland and Diana Reed in Arkansaw, Wis. The name of the farm was released in response to an open records request by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
At least 38 people in Durand contracted Campylobacter infections from raw milk that the Reeds served at a banquet for the Durand High School football team. Eight people were hospitalized.
Banquet attendees were not told the milk provided for the banquet was unpasteurized. Dozens of the students who attended the banquet became sick. Two football games had to be canceled because so many players were seriously ill.
Brianna Winnekins, a manager of the football team, was hospitalized for four days. She said she would have avoided the milk had she known it wasn’t pasteurized. Winnekins 18, had a 105˚F fever and other symptoms before she was hospitalized Sept. 22 at Chippewa Valley Hospital.
Campylobacter is transmitted when food or beverages contaminated with microscopic amounts of animal feces are consumed. Because young people are among those most at risk for food poisoning, public health officials say they should only drink milk that is pasteurized.
Ssome people with Campylobacter infections develop long-term complications 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.
In the response to the Journal Sentinel’s request, health officials also named Schaal Dairy as the source of a raw milk outbreak that sickened 16 people at a Racine elementary school in 2011.
