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More Illnesses Linked to Raw Milk From Oregon Farm

Food Safety News

by Gretchen Goetz | May 01, 2012

The Oregon farm whose raw milk is the suspected source of an E. coli outbreak that has sickened 19 has now been linked to two more cases of foodborne illness.

Health officials reported Monday that two adults who had consumed raw milk from Foundation Farm had contracted infections from two different pathogens - Campylobacter and cryptosporidium.

While it is not certain that these illnesses came from the farm's raw milk, it is likely, William Keene, senior epidemiologist at the Oregon Public Health Division, told the Oregonian.

Last week investigators confirmed that samples from the farm's cows, milk and manure had tested positive for a strain of E. coli identical to the one found in 8 of the victims linked to the outbreak.

But as no testing was done for Campylobacter or cryptosporidium, epidemiologists cannot say for certain yet whether these latest cases can be traced to the farm - a cow share operation in Northwest Oregon.

One of the two most recently sickened Foundation Farm patrons had continued to drink raw milk from the farm after the Oregon Public Health Division warned consumers that the milk had been potentially linked to an E. coli outbreak last month.

In that outbreak, which may still be ongoing, four children ages 1, 3, 14 and 14 were hospitalized with hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), a complication of E. coli infection that causes kidney failure. A fifth child was hospitalized and released.

Continue reading "More Illnesses Linked to Raw Milk From Oregon Farm" at Food Safety News.

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