21, including children, fall ill in Florida after consuming raw milk
The Florida Department of Health issued the warning on Monday, Aug. 4, noting that due to sanitation practices and raw milk consumption, 21 people became sick, including six children under the age of 10. Among the patients, at least two have suffered "severe complications," the announcement read.
The illnesses were linked to one farm.
"Sanitation practices in this farm are of particular concern due to the number of cases," the department wrote.
In Florida, raw milk is only sold for non-human consumption as pet or animal food, which limits regulation efforts of sanitary practices. Containers are supposed to be labeled so buyers know they contain raw milk for animal consumption only.
"Floridians should be aware of potential risks associated with consumption, which may vary depending on the source of milk," the health department wrote. "The producer's handling of raw milk and milking procedures are vital in prevention of contamination. Many people consume raw milk safely."
Here's what we know so far.
Raw milk includes milk from cows, sheep, goats, or other animals that has not been pasteurized or heat-treated to destroy bacteria, the Florida Department of Health said in the announcement.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), raw milk can be a source of foodborne illness, and while while contamination can be reduced, there is no guaranteed protection from harmful germs in raw milk.
"Pasteurized milk offers the same nutritional benefits without the risks of raw milk consumption," the CDC said on its website, adding that since the early 1900s, pasteurization has led to a drop in milk-borne illnesses.
According to the Florida Department of Health, raw milk can contain disease-causing bacteria such as Campylobacter, Escherichia coli (E. coli), Listeria, Salmonella and others. The bacteria can cause gastrointestinal illness, including diarrhea, vomiting and stomach cramps.
In California, state health officials warned the public after detecting the bird flu virus in raw milk from a central California dairy farm in November of last year.
U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has previously been quoted as saying he only drinks raw milk.
The most recent cases involved both Campylobacter and STEC (Shiga toxin-producing E. coli) infections, and were linked to one particular farm, the department said.
STEC bacteria at its most severe can lead to kidney failure, the department said. Other people at high-risk for severe illness include infants and young children, pregnant women, elderly individuals and individuals with weakened immune systems.
"Floridians are encouraged to use this information to make informed decisions about their health and sources of raw milk should they choose to consume it," the department said.
Contributing: Natalie Neysa Alund, USA TODAY
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Axios
an hour ago
- Axios
What to know about mRNA vaccines as Trump admin pulls funding
The Trump administration is decreasing funding for the development of mRNA (messenger RNA) vaccines, which were crucial in the response to COVID-19. Why it matters: mRNA vaccines are a public health tool to mitigating future pandemic-like situations, as researchers can move fast at a lower cost than other vaccine systems. "mRNA vaccines use a genetic code to tell the body's cells to produce proteins that train the immune system," a Penn Medicine report said. "The result: 'plug-and-play' vaccines with rapid development times and lower costs." Driving the news: Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said Tuesday that the government would pull $500 million in mRNA vaccine development funding in order to focus on "safer, broader vaccine platforms." No new mRNA based projects will be initiated, HHS said. Some final-stage contracts for targets like pandemic bird flu will run their course. What they're saying: " I've tried to be objective & non-alarmist in response to current HHS actions — but quite frankly this move is going to cost lives," Jerome Adams, who served as surgeon general during President Trump's first administration, said on X. "It's rhetoric of wellness ideologues who deny the benefits of mRNA vaccine technology in saving 3.2 million American lives in the pandemic," Peter Hotez, Baylor College of Medicine vaccine researcher, said on X. "Also in my view it's [a] slap in the face for President Trump, given this is one of his best achievements." What are mRNA vaccines? How do they work? The big picture: mRNA vaccines use a molecule necessary for protein production, called messenger RNA, rather than part of an actual bacteria or virus, according to the National Library of Medicine. mRNA vaccines introduce a piece of mRNA that corresponds to a viral protein, prompting cells to produce the viral protein. People who get an mRNA vaccine are not exposed to the virus, nor can they become infected with a virus by the vaccine. Flashback: mRNA was discovered in the early 1960s, and research into how it could be delivered into cells was developed in the 1970s, per Johns Hopkins ' Bloomberg School of Public Health. The intrigue: The biggest challenge with mRNA was that it was taken up by the body and quickly degraded before it could "deliver" the RNA transcript and be read into proteins in the cells. Advances in nanotechnology allowed for fatty droplets, or lipid nanoparticles, to wrap the mRNA like a bubble and allowed entry into the cells. Didn't the COVID vaccine use mRNA? State of play: The Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna COVID vaccines use mRNA. "Thanks to decades of research and innovation, mRNA vaccine technology was ready," the Johns Hopkins report said. "With COVID, this technology got its moment and has proven to be extremely safe and effective." Context: The COVID-19 mRNA vaccine gives cells instructions for how to make the S protein found on the surface of the virus, according to Mayo Clinic. The body creates antibodies that help clear the virus, if caught. What else could mRNA vaccines help protect against? Zoom out: Researchers at Penn Medicine are developing mRNA vaccines for infections including avian bird flu, all coronaviruses such as SARS and MERS, C. difficile, genital herpes, hepatitis C, HIV, influenza, leptospirosis, malaria, norovirus and tuberculosis. Moderna has mRNA vaccines in various levels of development to fend against RSV, HIV, Lyme disease, Mpox, several cancers and cystic fibrosis. What we're watching: As of January, more than 120 clinical trials were testing the potential for mRNA vaccines in cancer treatment across various malignancies, according to research published in the National Library of Medicine.
CNN
an hour ago
- CNN
A massive US measles outbreak has slowed but the start of the school year brings renewed risk of spread
Texas hasn't reported a new outbreak-related measles case in nearly a month — a hopeful sign that one of the largest outbreaks the United States has seen in decades is starting to slow. But the measles threat hasn't faded as new outbreaks and growing case counts in other states add to the national tally. There have been more measles cases reported in the US in the past month – at least 89 confirmed cases since the start of July – than in most years since the disease was declared eliminated a quarter century ago, according to data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And this year's total – 1,356 confirmed cases since January – is higher than it's been in more than 30 years. There have been 32 outbreaks this year, accounting for nearly 90% of all cases since January. Only 10 states remain at zero cases reported this year. The start of the school year in the US poses new threats for the spread of measles amid a record-breaking year for cases and lagging vaccination rates. Experts say that declining childhood vaccination rates across the US coupled with ongoing spread of measles in the US – and large outbreaks in neighboring Canada and Mexico – have raised concerns as children start to gather for the new school year. 'Nobody has a crystal ball, but the conditions are there to see an increased number of cases,' said Dr. Catherine Troisi, an infectious disease epidemiologist at UTHealth Houston. On Saturday, Wisconsin reported nine new cases – all linked to the same exposure during travel to another US state. The state health department isn't releasing more details about the cases – including the vaccination status of the individuals or the specific state they traveled to – in order to 'balance individual privacy for what the public needs to know' and because the risk of community spread is considered to be low, Dr. Ryan Westergaard, chief medical officer in the Wisconsin Department of Health Services Bureau of Communicable Diseases, said at a news briefing on Monday. But new data published by the CDC last week shows that kindergartners in Wisconsin had one of the lowest rates of coverage with the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine. Only 84.8% of kindergartners had gotten the two recommended doses of the MMR vaccine last school year, well below the 95% threshold necessary to prevent an outbreak. Only Alaska and Idaho had lower MMR vaccination rates, the CDC data shows. 'Back-to-school brings a lot of kids together and measles is very, very infectious,' Troisi said. 'So if you bring kids together and one of them happens to have measles, that's just a great way to spread the virus.' Declining vaccination rates also leave more kids vulnerable, she said, including those who are not vaccinated, those who are vaccinated but immunocompromised and those who are too young to be vaccinated. 'If you have more kids at risk, then the chance of measles spreading increases,' she said. Wisconsin is one of just 15 states that allow parents to exempt their schoolchildren from required vaccines for 'personal conviction reasons,' in addition to religious beliefs or for medical reasons. There was a record rate of exemptions in the US last school year, CDC data shows, with about 3.6% of incoming kindergartners allowed to miss at least one required vaccine – and the exemption rate in Wisconsin was more than double that, at 7.6%. The American Academy of Pediatrics says that non-medical exemptions to school immunization requirements should be eliminated, a longstanding position that the organization recently reaffirmed. 'Exempting children for nonmedical reasons from immunizations is problematic for medical, public health, and ethical reasons and creates unnecessary risk to both individuals and communities,' AAP leaders wrote in a policy statement last month. 'Although there are certainly families who would value having the option to decline vaccines and also send their children to school, nonmedical exemptions threaten the safety of the entire school community and shift the burden of protecting their children to the parents of children who are medically fragile, immunocompromised, or unable to receive immunizations for medical reasons.' A new measles outbreak was announced in Michigan's Osceola County last week, with the original case resulting from an individual who was exposed to measles while traveling out of state. It's the third outbreak in the state, which has now reported at least 27 cases this year. Wyoming also reported a batch of new measles cases on Saturday: four new cases in Carbon County were exposed to an individual with a confirmed measles infection, bringing the state's total up to seven. Data from the Wyoming health department shows that Carbon County had some of the lowest vaccination rates among children in the state in 2023, ranking 21st out of 23 counties with just 66% of toddlers having gotten at least one dose of the MMR vaccine. 'County-level vaccination coverage estimates are important because public health issues often begin in small geographic areas and certain public health actions are most effective at the local level,' according to the Wyoming health department. Unvaccinated individuals tend to be geographically clustered within certain communities, experts say, as families with similar sociocultural beliefs often live near each other. 'This phenomenon results in a greater likelihood of disease outbreaks when a vaccine-preventable illness is introduced into these communities,' AAP leaders wrote in the policy statement. 'Outbreaks that start in communities with low vaccination coverage have the potential to spread beyond those communities into other communities with low vaccination coverage or into the broader population, particularly for diseases like measles, varicella, and pertussis.' While the start of the school year poses new risks, it also creates opportunities for trusted community leaders to encourage and promote vaccination, experts say. 'We do know that if vaccine clinics are held at schools, that will increase (coverage) just by making it easier for parents to get their kids vaccinated,' Troisi said. 'School nurses are respected, so having them talk about how important vaccines are is another strategy.'
Miami Herald
an hour ago
- Miami Herald
Florida reports 13 cases of flesh-eating bacteria; death toll climbs to eight
Florida has reported 13 cases of Vibrio vulnificus, a bacteria commonly known as 'flesh-eating,' across 11 counties, with the death toll rising to eight, according to the Florida Department of Health. 'Eight of these cases were related to wound exposure, and all cases have been sporadic and unrelated to an outbreak,' health officials told el Nuevo Herald. As of July 24, the state had reported four deaths: one in Bay County, one in Broward, another in Hillsborough, and one more in Walton. The counties where the other deaths occurred have not yet been disclosed. The highest number of Vibrio vulnificus cases in Florida was recorded in 2024, with 82 infections and 19 deaths. Citrus, Hernando, Hillsborough, Lee, Pasco, Pinellas, and Sarasota counties 'experienced an unusual increase in cases due to the impacts of Hurricane Helene,' according to state health authorities. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) noted that extreme weather events, such as coastal flooding, hurricanes, and storm surges, can cause coastal waters to spread inland, increasing the risk of Vibrio infections in wounds among people exposed to these waters — especially older evacuees or those with underlying health conditions. A similar situation occurred in Florida after Hurricane Ian in 2022. Each year, an average of 150 to 200 cases are reported in the U.S., with most occurring in Gulf Coast states, according to the CDC. Most people infected with Vibrio experience diarrhea, and some may also have stomach cramps, nausea, vomiting, fever, and chills. One species, V. vulnificus, is known to cause life-threatening infections, and about one in five infected people die — sometimes within one to two days after becoming ill, according to the CDC. Louisiana has reported the most Vibrio vulnificus cases so far in 2025, with 17 infections — well above the state's annual average of seven, based on data from the Louisiana Department of Health. The bacteria live in coastal waters, including saltwater and brackish water (a mix of salt and fresh water). Most people become infected by eating raw or undercooked seafood, particularly oysters. Infection can also occur when an open wound is exposed to water containing the bacteria, according to the CDC's website. The Florida Department of Health recommends taking steps to avoid infection, such as cooking seafood to safe internal temperatures before eating, keeping raw or undercooked seafood and their juices away from other foods. Other tips include: Washing your hands with soap and water after handling raw open wounds, cuts, or scrapes with a waterproof bandage when in contact with seawater, brackish water, floodwater, or standing cleaning wounds with clean water and soap after any exposure to such water, or to raw or undercooked seafood or their immediate medical attention if a wound becomes red, swollen, oozes pus, or shows other signs of infection such as fever, increasing pain, shortness of breath, rapid heartbeat, confusion, or disorientation.
