Fwd: Bowel diseases linked to bug in milk

[Guest guest]

Hi Folks,

Would like to know your thoughts on the following article.

Should we be concerned about this? Are our raw milk and meat

supplies tested for this organism?

TIA

-Vee

> http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,1013657,00.html

>

> Bowel diseases linked to bug in milk

>

> Researchers alert government to potential 'public health tragedy'

>

> Meikle, health correspondent

> Thursday August 7, 2003

> The Guardian

>

> Changes to the way milk and water are prepared for human

consumption may

be

> needed to fight " a public health tragedy " linked to a bug causing

illness

in

> hundreds of thousands of people, it was claimed last night.

> Researchers believe they have found the strongest association yet

between

a

> disease commonly found in livestock and Crohn's disease, a

condition of

the

> digestive tract suffered by about one in 600 of the population.

>

> But they also strongly suspect a connection between the bug which is

> responsible for a disease in cattle and irritable bowel syndrome,

which

affects

> as many as one in 10 people and costs the NHS more than £700m

annually.

>

> Professor Hermon-, of St 's hospital medical

school,

south

> London, has alerted the chief medical officer, Professor Sir Liam

son, to

> the " huge public health issue " that might be raised.

>

> It is believed that Sir Liam has asked his advisers on infectious

diseases

to

> examine the new evidence.

>

> Prof Hermon- is trying to develop a vaccine against

Mycobacterium

avium

> subspecies paratuberculosis (MAP) as a treatment for Crohn's

disease and

is

> shortly to test it on mice.

>

> Research by his team and others suggests that MAP, which infects

cattle,

is

> infiltrating water supplies and defeating the milk pasteurisation

process.

>

> Links between MAP, which has been found in 2% of pasteurised milk

cartons,

and

> Crohn's disease have been investigated for some years. In 1998 the

government's

> advisory committee on dangerous pathogens decided that a link could

not be

> demonstrated by the available evidence.

>

> Crohn's is a debilitating condition involving chronic diarrhoea,

abdominal

> pain, weight loss and fatigue. An estimated 100,000 Britons have

it, with

5,000

> new patients a year. It can, with complications, be fatal.

>

> Using sophisticated DNA techniques, Dr Hermon-'s team found

that

samples

> taken from 34 of 37 patients with Crohn's contained the MAP bug.

>

> Three patients with irritable bowel syndrome, a condition with more

> intermittent pain, constipation and/or diarrhoea, were also tested

for

MAP. It

> was found in all three.

>

> Professor Hermon- said: " The association between the MAP bug

and

Crohn's

> is highly significant. " But the IBS link was unexpected.

>

> " In animals MAP inflames the nerves of the gut, " he said. " Recent

work

from

> Sweden shows that people with IBS also have inflamed gut nerves.

There is

a

> real chance that the MAP bug may be inflaming people's gut nerves

and

causing

> irritable bowel syndrome. "

>

> The findings were reported in the Journal of Clinical Microbiology.

>

> But Prof Hermon-, who has been supported by £940,000 in

funding from

the

> Action Research charity for nearly 17 years and more recently by

£670,000

from

> the medical research council, is now looking at water supplies.

>

> He said research so far suggested that MAP had run off land into

rivers,

and

> although much of it was removed by filtration, some might be evading

> chlorination and getting into drinking water. If that was confirmed

better

> filtration, or ultra-violet treatments, might be needed.

>

> Action Research yesterday called for increased stringency in the

pasteurisation

> of milk, tests for MAP in dairy cattle and improved collection and

storage

> procedures on farms.

>

> It did not recommend that people stop drinking milk but suggested

those

with

> Crohn's or relatives who may feel at risk should drink UHT

supplies, where

> higher pasteurisation temperatures were used.

>

> The food standards agency said the government was seeking to find

ways in

which

> MAP might be killed by changes in pasteurisation. It believed

precautionary

> action to reduce human exposure to MAP should start now and not

depend on

a

> link with disease in humans to be proved or disproved.

>

> The Department of Health said it welcomed any research which would

increase

> understanding of difficult and chronic diseases but could not

comment

further

> at present.

>

>

--- End forwarded message ---

[Guest guest]

>Hi Folks,

>Would like to know your thoughts on the following article.

>Should we be concerned about this? Are our raw milk and meat

>supplies tested for this organism?

>TIA

>-Vee

I'm sure others will have other thoughts, but when I hear " infiltrating

the pastuerization process " I think of botulism. Botulism doesn't

infect much of anything IF there are competeing bacteria -- it is mainly

a problem in things that are *almost* sterile. Kind of like Fireweed -- Fireweed

only grows when nothing else does (like after a fire).

Now, someone who is eating fermented foods and raw meat etc. is

eating a LOT of competing bacteria. In general, the most competitive

are the common ones we are all used to, and the crowd out the rare ones.

So are we more at risk? Probably not. The people who are most at risk

are the ones leading sterile lives, esp. if they have been on antibiotics,

not eating probiotics, and eating mostly food that is well-cooked.

Another analogy -- I drink kefir-beer, fermented on my counter in far

less than sterile conditions, nightly. It is full of bacteria. Never had

a problem. I've gotten food poisoning a few times though -- off what?

Off *cooked* food -- food that was *mostly* sterile and therefore made

a great growing spot for some odd germ that knocked me out.

Which is not to say that some nasty bugs don't exist. They do. But the

nastiest ones tend not to come from grass-fed cows, raw or otherwise.

-- Heidi

[Guest guest]

Its very simple...

Sick soil = Sick plants & grass = sick animals = sick humans

Healthy soil = healthy plants & grass = healthy animals = healthy humans

As long as we have sick soil (which we do) and the majority of the people

are ignorant of the true problem, they will treat the symptoms, rather than

the cause....

So, stay healthy, and don't get sick

Problem solved, Chris

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[Guest guest]

----- Original Message -----

From: " Bellanger " <chrisb05@...>

> As long as we have sick soil (which we do) and the majority of the

people

> are ignorant of the true problem, they will treat the symptoms, rather

than

> the cause....

Soil quality is an issue, and an important one, but as long as people

are not eating the best food that the soil has to offer, it will remain

a secondary issue. Most of us here know from personal experience that it

is possible to achieve significant health improvements through dietary

changes even where soil quality remains constant.