The Idaho Department of Health and Welfare is looking into a raw milk problem that led to 60 people getting sick.
State health officials said they identified the people who fell ill between May 19 and Wednesday after drinking the milk.
Of those people, 45 were confirmed to be suffering from an infection caused by the bacteria campylobacter, which can be found in raw milk.
The symptoms of the infection, known as campylobacteriosis, start two to five days after bacterial exposure and last for a week. The symptoms include fever, nausea, vomiting, stomach cramps and diarrhea, which can sometimes be bloody, state health officials said.
Most of the sickened individuals said they drank the raw milk from one of two milking operations, one in northern Idaho and the other in the southern part of the state.
State health officials are working to identify which batches might contain harmful bacteria.
The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it takes only a few campylobacter bacteria to cause infections and that “pasteurized milk offers the same nutritional benefits without the risks of raw milk consumption.”
The Food and Drug Administration stresses on its website that purported health benefits linked to drinking raw milk are not real. The agency said raw milk does not:
- Build up a child’s immune system or enhance the immune systems of others.
- Contain natural components that make it safe to drink.
- Cure lactose intolerance or make it easier to digest milk.
- Cure or treat asthma and allergies.
- Offer better nutrition than pasteurized milk.
- Offer greater effectiveness against osteoporosis than pasteurized milk.
- Provide gastrointestinal benefits.
The process of pasteurization, the CDC said, heats up the milk for a long enough period of time to kill germs such as campylobacter.
