Listeria scare

[steff bugielski]

My dept. of agr. told me on Wed. that my milk was suspect for listeria. Today they confirmed that it is negative. Thank God. But it got me thinking, I don't know anything about it. Where does it come from, is the goat infected if so is it curable. I was thinking maybe contaminated feed, mouldy hay. We have had a hard time getting hay this year. Last few months everyone was sold out , one guy only had stuff left over from god knows when. Hope this is not a trend as folks sell off their land to developers.
Any thoughts on the listeria would be appriciated.
Steff

[rhjacobi]

Hi Steff,

A web search for Listeriosis will probably get you an abundance of better information than I can recall. It is suppose to be always present, but associated with, among other things, moldy hay or silage. Not being in the dairy end, I don't know much about the possibility of it being in the milk from a goat with it present, but not showing symptoms. I do know of an instance where a nursing mother came down with Listeriosis, but the kid was not affected. I have sensed that there may have been more cases of Listeriosis around the country this year. This is just a sense from more postings than in past years, nothing concrete.

The earlier that you start treating Listeriosis, the better chances of success. It takes a lot of antibiotics, among other things, and they can get pretty sick before recovering. It appears that a lot of vets are tending to treat for Listeriosis, Thiamine Deficiency (Goat Polio) and Tetnus all at the some time when symptoms appear. I think that this is because it can really be hard to distinguish between the three in earlier stages and so critical to get treatment started.

I hope that this helps a little.

Bob
Lynchburg, TN.

[Julia]

Steff, Listeria bacteria are ubiquitous---found everywhere, in soil, dust, and feces. When Listeria is found in dairy products, it is almost always an issue of contamination by one of these things. Someone didn't wash their hands, or tracked in some soil on their boots, or let dust fall on some equipment. That's why most cases of listeriosis in humans come from pasteurzed milk products.

Animals do get listeriosis, and it can present in either an encephalitis or an abortion form. Listeriosis is believed to be passed through the milk only in the abortion form. It's a good reason never to ever drink the milk of an goat or cow that has aborted.

In the encephalitic form, the animal spikes a very high fever (over 107 degrees F.) and starts showing central nervous system symptoms. Unlike listeriosis, there is no fever in polioencephalamacia.

Congrats on dodging the Listeria bullet! I bet that scared the heck out of you...

[steff bugielski]

Thanks for the info.
Yes very scarey, I sell raw milk.
Steff