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Also, farm linked to raw milk E. coli O157:H7 illnesses in Missouri.

According the Lynne Terry of the Oregonian, Oregon health authorities have confirmed a fifth case of E. coli infection in an outbreak traced to raw milk. All five patients are younger than 15 and three, including a toddler, are hospitalized with acute kidney failure (hemolytic uremic syndrome – HUS), a complication associated with E. coli O157:H7. Another four children — also under 15 — along with an adult who consumed raw milk from Foundation Farm in Wilsonville have developed severe gastro-intestinal symptoms.

According the Lynne Terry of the Oregonian, the farm stopped sales of its raw milk last week and allowed Oregon epidemiologists to collect environmental samples on its property, 17 acres in the Stafford area near Wilsonville. Those samples are now being tested for harmful bacteria by a lab outside Seattle that specializes in foodborne outbreaks.

According the Lynne Terry of the Oregonian, Foundation Farm, which has four Jersey dairy cows, three that are lactating, distributed raw milk through a herd-sharing program in which customers buy part of a cow or herd. It sold to 48 families. Health officials have interviewed most of them. The owner of Foundation Farm, Brad Salyers, did no return calls seeking comment.

According to Blythe Bernhard of the St. Louis Post Dispatch, six of 13 people recently sickened by E. coli bacteria reported drinking raw milk from the same farm in Howard County, Missouri health officials said today.  Lab tests on eight food samples gathered from the farm were negative for E. coli. The farm’s owner has stopped selling raw dairy products, according to the state health department.  Health investigators are still investigating potential sources of the outbreak. There are an additional four suspected cases awaiting test results.  The 13 confirmed illnesses have been recorded since late March in Boone, Camden, Clark, Cooper, Howard, Jackson and Randolph counties.

For more information about raw milk, see Real Raw Milk Facts.