The Family Cow Raw MilkAccording to AP, an outbreak of a Campylobacter bacterial infection due to consuming raw milk from a Edwin Shank’s Family Cow Farm in Pennsylvania is now linked to thirty-eight illnesses in four states, The farm has temporarily suspended sales. Four are sick in Maryland according to the Maryland Department of Health. One person is sick in New Jersey and two in West Virginia, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Health. Thirty-one people are sick in Pennsylvania, many of them in Franklin County, where the farm is located.

Raw milk from an unopened bottle tested by Maryland Health officials was positive for Campylobacter linked to the thirty-eight ill.

Campylobacter is the second most common cause of bacterial foodborne illness in the United States after Salmonella. Active surveillance through FoodNet indicates that there are about 13 cases for each 100,000 persons in the population diagnosed yearly with C. jejuni infection (MMWR, 2009, April 10). In 2009, there were 6,033 reported cases of campylobacteriosis; however the CDC estimates that C. jejuni causes approximately 845,000 illnesses, 8,400 hospitalizations, and 76 deaths in the United States each year, according to a 2011 report.

For more on the risks of raw milk, see Real Raw Milk Facts Dot Com.