CDC Warns Connecticut Residents Of Contaminated Raw Milk

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is warning residents in New Jersey, New York, Connecticut and Rhode Island who may have consumed contaminated raw milk and milk products to seek medical care and start antibiotics. According to the CDC, people who bought and drank raw milk from a company called Udder Milk may have been infected with a rare but potentially serious germ called Brucella abortus RB51.

The CDC says a New Jersey woman became ill after drinking raw milk from Udder Milk in late September but because the company has not provided information about the farms that supply their milk, health officials have not been able to trace the source of the woman's infection. The New Jersey woman is the second known domestically acquired case of RB51, the other was in Texas over the summer. The two cases are not related.

The locations where the company sells and distributes raw milk and other products and the locations of the farms supplying the milk are not known. the CDC says. Information found online points to member-only websites through which people buy raw milk and delivery sites that shift, which the CDC says is done to evade public health officials.

"Selling and distributing raw milk and raw dairy products is illegal in New Jersey and selling it outside of the farm that produces it is illegal in New York," the CDC said in a press release. "Farms that sell raw milk in New York also must have a permit to sell it."

The CDC says anyone who may have consumed raw milk and raw milk products from Udder Milk should seek medical care and start antibiotics to prevent future chronic disease from RB51. People who consumed raw milk from Udder Milk should tell their doctor that they may have been exposed to this particular strain.

People who consumed the milk should check themselves daily for fever for one month after they last drank the milk and watch for other symptoms like muscle pain and lasting fatigue.

“Because health officials have no direct way to let people know they may have drunk contaminated milk, everyone who consumed milk from Udder Milk in the past 6 months should receive antibiotics now to avoid having long-term health effects from the bacteria,” William Bower, team lead for the CDC group that investigates brucellosis, the illness caused by RB51, said in a press release.

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