Johne's in goat's milk

[Jillis]

Is Johne's a danger to humans is it is in the milk of an infected animal?

My question regards someone else's animals.

[susanne]

there are some studies that say there is a correalation between johne's and crohn's desease in humans. one way of transmission from animal to human is milk
i would not drink milk from a johne's positive animal.

[computerchick]

I know dairies have the larger problem with Johnes (cow). I'm wondering the legalities of this...do dairies have to test and not sell milk from pos animals? Does pasteurization remove the risk? I have learned that Johnes bacterium 'encapsulates' therefore surviving so well in the soil, etc, it would seem to me that it could survive heat as well.

Something to think about next time bottle feeding storebought milk...unless someone has info on the legal side/pasteurization?

Andrea

[doodles]

I found this article that states that it is not killed through pasturizing . It offers more insite on how it is passed.


http://www.drmyhill.co.uk/article.cfm?id=111

[computerchick]

ok, all human stuff aside. this is scary for goat producers. a lot of goat producers will bottle feed cows milk.

I think this would be a possible vector for johnes in goats.

thanks for sharing!

andrea

[DQ]

I have been concerned about this too. especially because johnes apparently can be carried without symptoms for many years. I have read to not even bother testing until they are two, because they are unable to detect it before then and often not until they are symptomatic. eek! makes me wary of all milk. I can't seem to find any reliable source on its prominence in the goat population, everything says that nobody knows.

[Jillis]

As far as I can discover, the link between Johnes in dairy animals and Crohns in humans is inconclusive.

Here is a quote from the Johnes site:

The question of the zoonotic potential of M. paratuberculosis precedes the question of how humans, most of whom live in cities, could be exposed to this domestic agriculture pathogen, i.e., the route of transmission. While questions on transmission are being investigated, they will not be dealt with on this page as the information is incomplete and currently highly speculative. References are provided at the end of this page, however, for the inquisitive reader.

http://www.johnes.org/zoonotic/index.html

[susanne]

yes inconclusive. does that mean the milk from animals with johne's is save? they don't say that either.
there was a study in GB where store bought milk was tested for
M. Paratuberculosis. i don't now the exact percent of contaminated milk they found i have to research that again. for sure this was not speculation. it is also very clear how it is tranmitted

Infected adults pass the infection to neonates via feces and milk contaminated with the organism.

[Jillis]

Thank you susanne. Did you read that they found m.paratuberculosis in actual, pasteurized, storebought milk?

[susanne]

yes

[computerchick]

I think that finding it in storebought milk should be an alert to anyone who bottlefeeds storebought cow's milk!

I'm going to check with our local dairy and ask for testing records, specifically so until I get my own dairy cross freshened, I have a safe source just in case I have orphans!

Pretty scary!

Andrea