Communicable disease associated with milk and dairy products in England and Wales: 1983-1984

During the period 1983-1984 32 outbreaks of disease (II in 1983 and 21 in 1984) associated with consumption of milk and dairy products and affecting at least 714 people were reported from England and Wales. Twenty-seven of the outbreaks were attributed to raw milk, two to contaminated pasteurised milk and one each to cheese, cream and ice-cream. Twenty-two were due to salmonellas, seven to campylobacters and one each to Staphylococcus aureus, Yersinia enterocolitica and Streptococcus zooepidemicus. Two sporadic cases of Corynebacterium ulcerans infection associated with raw milk were also reported. There were eight deaths, all associated with the S. zooepidemicus outbreak. The continuing occurrence of milk-borne outbreaks, and an increasing number of incidents affecting rural communities, emphasises the urgent need for enforcing pasteurisation of milk and dairy products in England and Wales.