Eurosurveillance, Volume 20, Issue 40, 08 October 2015 reports on an investigation of a Yersinia pseudotuberculosis (YP) outbreak in March 2014, in southern Finland.
The researchers conducted epidemiological, microbiological and traceback investigations to identify the source. 43 cases were identified and 50 controls used. The illness was strongly associated with the consumption of raw milk from a single producer. The odds ratio of illness increased with the amount of raw milk consumed. Also previously healthy adults became infected by consuming raw milk. Identical YP strains were identified from cases’ stool samples, raw milk sampled from a case’s refrigerator and from the milk filter at the producer’s farm. The producer fulfilled the legal requirements for raw milk production and voluntarily recalled the raw milk and stopped its production. We advised consumers to heat the raw milk to 72 °C for 15 s. Current legislation for raw milk producers should be reviewed and public awareness of health risks linked to raw milk consumption should be increased.