
08/18/05, 07:17 AM
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Farmer
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Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: MN
Posts: 337
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Danny,
I'm not going to tell you what to drink, that's up to you.
Of these tick-borne or mosquito borne diseases being transmitted through milk, I think most of these cases are in tropical areas. The ones I have read about are Rift Valley fever, Q fever. Also, I think there have been cases where tick-borne encephalitis are transmitted through raw milk.
Actually, there are several illnesses you can contract from raw milk, but I expect that the incidence is relatively low. Each year, though, people do contract illness from raw milk, and occasionally one or two croak.
As more and more food products are imported from abroad, I think that concerns over illnesses from raw milk -- more accurately, from products made from raw milk will rise. I believe there was a case of Tb contracted from cheese made from raw milk in NY a couple years ago.
We have a home pasteurizer and pasteurize the milk from our cows before drinking it, but I have drunk raw milk many times. Some people can handle raw milk, some can't. I don't agree with the "if you pasteurize milk, you might as well throw it away" view, but I'm not looking for any converts and I'm sure there's quite a few people who think I'm a dummy.
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"Never tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do and they will surprise you with their ingenuity." Gen. George S. Patton Jr.
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