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State releases raw-milk report Published:
October 16, 2008 By Nicholas Grube
Triplicate staff writer Source of Article: http://www.triplicate.com/news/story.cfm?story_no=10493 Health officials have released their
findings from an investigation into a campylobacter outbreak that sickened
more than a dozen people in Del Norte County who consumed unpasteurized milk
from Alexandre Family EcoDairy
Farms. The final report from the California
Department of Public Health shows the bacterial infection that occurred in
May and June sickened 16 people and did not discriminate among those who
consumed the product. Those who became ill ranged from 4 to
70, and were split between male and female. And it didn't matter if the
person ingesting raw milk was a long-time, daily consumer or a first-time
drinker. "Drinking raw milk always carries
a risk of illness for bacterial infection," said Dr. Amy Karon, an epidemic intelligence service officer with the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention who helped prepare the report. "That goes for people of all ages
and genders," she said. "People can still become sick from drinking
raw milk contaminated with bacteria and that's what we saw in this
outbreak." There was one person who tested
positive for campylobacter who denied drinking raw milk. This person,
however, was an employee of the organic dairy who worked closely with the
cows. Two people who showed symptoms of
campylobacter were hospitalized during the outbreak. One was released after
an overnight stay, the other remains severely ill after developing a rare
neurological disorder commonly associated with campylobacter. This woman, Mari Tardiff,
of Crescent City, works at the county's Department of Public Health, and she
drank raw milk for the first time three days before becoming sick. Though she did not test positive for
campylobacter, subsequent testing of the product taken from her refrigerator
discovered the bacteria's DNA in it. Another person in her household also
became sick from drinking the milk. Tardiff's attorney, William Marler,
said legal action against the dairy is pending, as his client is still
recovering from her illness. He said he is working with both the Alexandre EcoDairy's attorney
and insurance company to come to a possible resolution. "She's still not doing well. She
is still ventilator-dependent," Marler said of
Tardiff. "Although she's in rehabilitation now
and out of the hospital, she's in for a long haul of rehabilitation." Shortly after drinking raw milk, Tardiff came down with symptoms consistent with a
campylobacter infection, such as diarrhea, abdominal cramps, fever and
vomiting. Afterward she developed a form of Guillain-Barré
syndrome, which caused her to become partially paralyzed and forced her to
stay in an intensive care unit in She remained on the ventilator until
Sept. 16, more than three months after developing symptoms. Marler said Tardiff
is now back in "It's pretty nasty," Marler said, "and it's all because she drank milk
that she thought was going to be healthy for her." Many people who drink raw,
unpasteurized milk say there are health benefits to consuming the product
because it contains beneficial microbes that aide in digestion and provide
increased nutrition. Most health officials disagree and
urge people not to drink raw milk because of the inherent risks involved as
bacteria like salmonella, E. coli and listeria can
be found in milk that has not been pasteurized. Del Norte County Public Health Officer
Thomas Martinelli, who was part of the
investigation into the campylobacter outbreak, said he does not recommend the
consumption of raw milk by anyone. He said it is easily contaminated,
especially with campylobacter, which is commonly found in the feces of most
domesticated animals, including cats and dogs. "You go to most dairies in the
country and most milk will be infected with campylobacter before it's pasteurized," Martinelli
said. "It's a known entity that's frequently in raw milk." The investigation did not find
campylobacter in Alexandre EcoDairy's
raw milk tanks, but those inspections were performed in July, two months
after the first symptoms were reported. Martinelli said he suspects more than 16 people
contracted campylobacter during the outbreak. Many people, he said, could
have contracted the bacteria but not shown symptoms, similar to a flu that
sickens some but not others. He said he also suspects not everyone
was telling public health officials the truth during the investigation. "We know this outbreak was at
least 16 people. But we also know that there were likely more than 16 people
infected," Martinelli said. "We know that
not everybody was being honest with us because some people were trying to
protect the dairy." It's estimated that hundreds of people
could have been exposed to campylobacter during the May and June outbreak, as
there were 115 households signed up for Alexandre EcoDairy's cow-sharing program that provided access to
raw milk. It is this distribution method that is
now the subject of some scrutiny. A recommendation at the end of the
California Department of Public Health report is to "survey all In "Raw milk is legal in Alexandre EcoDairy
skirted these guidelines by creating a cow-leasing program that allowed
customers to buy a share, or stock, in one of its cows. This gave people
partial ownership of the animal, and allowed the dairy to distribute the
product since it is not unlawful to take raw milk from your own animal. According to Lyle, Alexandre
EcoDairy had the only known cow-leasing operation
in The owners of the family-operated
organic dairy, Blake and Stephanie Alexandre,
voluntarily shut down the program in June after learning about Mari Tardiff's illness. This helped them avoid any
disciplinary measures from local or state authorities. Stephanie Alexandre
referred a request for comment on the state report to her husband, who could
not be reached Wednesday. While not saying that cow-sharing is
illegal, Lyle said the Department of Food and Agriculture would monitor Alexandre Dairy if it decided to start distributing raw
milk again. "We sent a letter to the dairy
back in July basically saying if they chose to distribute raw milk that there
were a number of steps that had to be followed to do it legally," Lyle
said. "If we learned that the distribution of raw milk was to resume at
that dairy we would investigate." He also said if Food and Agriculture
officials learn of other raw milk operations in the state that his department
would likely investigate to determine it they are legal. The implications of the state
Department of Public Health's recommendation at the end of its report are
unclear. June Iljana,
a spokesperson for the agency, said the department will work with other state
and federal agencies and industry authorities to examine the health risks of
raw milk that are associated with cow-leasing programs. "We're always asking questions
and we're always evaluating our potential reactions in response to public
health threats," Iljana said. "We are
definitely looking critically at everything as far as public health risks
go." She said she didn't know if this will
result in changes in regulations. "This is a significant policy
question that takes a lot of coordination between our department and our
partners," Iljana said. "This isn't
something we make a decision about quickly." |
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