Healthy Living: Local News
Health officials tie illnesses to raw milk at Valley farm
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Story Updated: Jun 28, 2011
State health officials said Monday that four Alaskans including a young child suffered serious gastrointestinal illness in recent weeks after drinking raw milk from a Matanuska Valley farm.
They are urging people not to drink unpasteurized milk and to let the state know if they've experienced any bout of acute digestive tract illness since March after doing so.
"We really think this is the tip of the iceberg," said state epidemiologist Joe McLaughlin. The people who became ill ranged in age from 1 to 81. They each went to a doctor and underwent testing that showed they were infected with the same strain of campylobacter, the pathogen that caused the gastrointestinal illness, McLaughlin said. Could it just be coincidence that the four who became ill also drank raw milk from the same farm? "The chance of that is less than 1 in 1 billion," McLaughlin said. Gareth Byers acknowledged Monday his Point MacKenzie dairy farm was the one implicated but he's not convinced it was the source of the outbreak.
Testing of the milk in May, just after the first case was reported, didn't find campylobacter, according to the state. But the test found another pathogen, listeria, which can cause life-threatening infections including meningitis. Pathogens might be in one batch but not the next, state officials said. Results from a second test are pending. Byers said he, his wife and three children go through about a gallon of raw milk a day. It contains more beneficial enzymes and vitamins than pasteurized milk, advocates say. It also tastes better, according to Byers.
"That shows you how worried I am," he said. He's owned the dairy farm since November 2007 and said he never had a problem before. It's inspected regularly since much of the milk ends up at the Matanuska Creamery, where it is pasteurized, said state veterinarian Bob Gerlach. Pasteurization, in which the milk is quickly heated, kills the pathogens. "This is a grade A dairy," Gerlach said. But that doesn't mean the raw milk is guaranteed safe, he said. It's not routinely tested for pathogens. A state report issued Monday called milk "a rich nutrient broth ideal for proliferation of pathogens introduced through fecal contamination of product." There's no way to prevent fecal matter from getting into milk entirely, state officials said.
"When you are milking the cow, even if you clean the udders with a good soap and whatnot, there's still hair (from the cow) that falls into the milk, into the buckets," McLaughlin said. Not only is the gastrointestinal illness unpleasant, the campylobacter infection in some cases can lead to long-term health consequences, including arthritis, he said. In rare cases, the autoimmune disorder Guillain-Barre syndrome, which can cause paralysis, may develop several weeks after the bout of diarrhea.
State rules prohibit raw milk from being sold to the public but farmers, and eager customers, can easily get around that, officials acknowledge. A number of Alaska dairy farms sell shares in a cow, so the consumers can say they are drinking milk from a cow they partly own. That's legal, officials said. At the dairy farm under investigation, about 1,100 cow-share holders pay $15 a year. Then, for another $5 a week, they get a gallon of milk or a quart of cream, McLaughlin said. About 400 pick up raw dairy products at the farm on a typical week.
Byers said some customers are worried and a few may stop coming to the farm. But he figures most will still want the raw milk. It generates about 20 percent of his farm income. For their part, state officials say they are worried the outbreak is ongoing. To report symptoms, call 269-8000 or 1-800-478-1700.
"We really think this is the tip of the iceberg," said state epidemiologist Joe McLaughlin. The people who became ill ranged in age from 1 to 81. They each went to a doctor and underwent testing that showed they were infected with the same strain of campylobacter, the pathogen that caused the gastrointestinal illness, McLaughlin said. Could it just be coincidence that the four who became ill also drank raw milk from the same farm? "The chance of that is less than 1 in 1 billion," McLaughlin said. Gareth Byers acknowledged Monday his Point MacKenzie dairy farm was the one implicated but he's not convinced it was the source of the outbreak.
Testing of the milk in May, just after the first case was reported, didn't find campylobacter, according to the state. But the test found another pathogen, listeria, which can cause life-threatening infections including meningitis. Pathogens might be in one batch but not the next, state officials said. Results from a second test are pending. Byers said he, his wife and three children go through about a gallon of raw milk a day. It contains more beneficial enzymes and vitamins than pasteurized milk, advocates say. It also tastes better, according to Byers.
"That shows you how worried I am," he said. He's owned the dairy farm since November 2007 and said he never had a problem before. It's inspected regularly since much of the milk ends up at the Matanuska Creamery, where it is pasteurized, said state veterinarian Bob Gerlach. Pasteurization, in which the milk is quickly heated, kills the pathogens. "This is a grade A dairy," Gerlach said. But that doesn't mean the raw milk is guaranteed safe, he said. It's not routinely tested for pathogens. A state report issued Monday called milk "a rich nutrient broth ideal for proliferation of pathogens introduced through fecal contamination of product." There's no way to prevent fecal matter from getting into milk entirely, state officials said.
"When you are milking the cow, even if you clean the udders with a good soap and whatnot, there's still hair (from the cow) that falls into the milk, into the buckets," McLaughlin said. Not only is the gastrointestinal illness unpleasant, the campylobacter infection in some cases can lead to long-term health consequences, including arthritis, he said. In rare cases, the autoimmune disorder Guillain-Barre syndrome, which can cause paralysis, may develop several weeks after the bout of diarrhea.
State rules prohibit raw milk from being sold to the public but farmers, and eager customers, can easily get around that, officials acknowledge. A number of Alaska dairy farms sell shares in a cow, so the consumers can say they are drinking milk from a cow they partly own. That's legal, officials said. At the dairy farm under investigation, about 1,100 cow-share holders pay $15 a year. Then, for another $5 a week, they get a gallon of milk or a quart of cream, McLaughlin said. About 400 pick up raw dairy products at the farm on a typical week.
Byers said some customers are worried and a few may stop coming to the farm. But he figures most will still want the raw milk. It generates about 20 percent of his farm income. For their part, state officials say they are worried the outbreak is ongoing. To report symptoms, call 269-8000 or 1-800-478-1700.
