A new research report has described cases of cryptosporidium that came from raw milk in the United States and the United Kingdom.
The parasite was previously believed to only infect people who drank contaminated water.
“However, in most recent reports molecular tests on stool specimens along with epidemiological data supported that the infection was acquired through the consumption of unpasteurized milk,” said the research paper.
“As the incubation period for cryptosporidium is relatively long -days to weeks - compared with many other foodborne pathogens - hours to days -, these reports often lack microbiological confirmation because, by the time the outbreak was identified, the possibly contaminated milk was not available anymore,” the authors wrote.
A close friend got cryptosporidium from Kitchener's drinking water - likely contaminated by cattle manure - and the effects on her digestive system lasted years. Not nice!
In another research paper, the authors describe how tuberculosis spread to consumers of raw milk in New York State in 2018 and in Texas in 2017.
