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Diseases From Raw Milk Consumption

Milk is an important part of a person's diet. Unfortunately, it can also carry certain organisms that can cause severe disease in humans (1). One way to prevent this is by pasteurizing the milk. Pasteurization kills the organisms that cause disease without destroying the milk. It also increases the shelf life of milk by destroying proteins and bacteria in the milk that cause it to spoil. Click on the links below to read a few reports of human illness caused by the consumption of raw milk or raw milk products:

  1. Multi-state outbreak of Salmonella (2002-2003);
  2. Outbreak of Escherichia coli O157:H7 in children in California (2006);
  3. Outbreak of Listeria monocytogenes in North Carolina (2001);
  4. Escherichia coli O157:H7 outbreak in Wisconsin (1998).

Below are some diseases associated with drinking raw milk.
 

Disease
Organism 
Symptoms and Complications
1.Campylobacteriosis Campylobacter sp. bloody diarrhea
2. Salmonellosis Salmonella sp. bloody diarrhea
3. Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome E. coli O157:H7 diarrhea, kidney failure, death
4. Yersiniosis Yersinsia enterocolitica diarrhea
5. Listeriosis Listeria monocytogenes meningitis, blood infections
6. Tuberculosis Mycobacterium tuberculosis tuberculosis; pneumonia
7. Brucellosis Brucella sp. blood infections, heart infections
8. Cryptosporidiosis Cryptosporidium parvum diarrhea
9. Staphylococcal enterotoxin poisoning Staphylococcus aureus vomiting
10. Q fever Coxiella burnetti high fever, severe headache, muscle aches (can infect the liver and/or heart)

For more information on how milk is pasteurized click on the University of Guelph's Dairy Science and Technology page.

1.Potter ME, Kaufmann AF, Blake PA, Feldman RA. Unpasteurized milk: the hazards of a health fetish. JAMA
     1984;252:2048--52.

2. Hazards of raw milk product consumption.

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Last revised 2/5/11