New Zealand Studies Its Most Prevalent Notifiable Disease--Campylobacter

Posted by Campylobacter Attorney on April 13, 2009

New Zealand's South Canterbury is on many dream vacation lists. The area between the Conway and Waitaki rivers and what New Zealand calls its Southern Alps to the west, the area's many attractions are anything if not inviting.

The tourist brochures for Christchurch and other places in South Canterbury, however, do not mention the fact that this big area of New Zealand has more than its share of Campylobacter.   The Timaru Herald reports:

Campylobacter continues to be the most prevalent notifiable disease in South Canterbury and there is a study under way to find out why.

Statistics from South Canterbury District Health Board show in March there were seven cases of campylobacter in Timaru, three in the Mackenzie district and two in Waimate.

There have been no known outbreaks or obvious connection between the cases, medical officer of health Daniel Williams said.

New Zealand sees 10,000 cases of Campylobacter each year.    Three years ago, 970 hospital admissions were attributed to the disease.  Williams said the long incubation period often makes it difficult to link to the cause.

For more from NZ, go here.

Raw Milk Is Giving People Campylobacter On Colorado's Western Slope

Posted by Campylobacter Attorney on April 08, 2009

Raw milk has struck again, this time in western Colorado where at several people are suffering campylobacter poisoning. The Kinikin Corner Dairy in Montrose, CO has been ordered to cease and desist from distributing raw milk to the public, including its so-called "shareholders."

Raw milk traced to Kinikin, where the poison-producing cows come with cute little names, has made at least eight people sick, according to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.

The state says 10 of the 11 confirmed cases of campylobacter since March 30th are linked to drinking raw milk, and eight of those have admitted their raw milk pusher is the Kinikin Dairy.

The diary was order to stop sales late yesterday afternoon.

Campylobacter is often spread through cow feces and if contaminated fecal matter gets into water or milk, humans can get sick.

The Montrose dairy farm gives all the details of how it gets around those little legal prohibitions against selling raw milk to the public on its website here.