will I be indanger just by drinking milk from an animal infected/suffering from mastutis?

Question

I would like to know how dangerous one can be just by drinking some milk from an animal suffering from mastutis and if that happens what is the possible cure/treatment to such person?

Answer 1

wilhard,

That depends on what you mean by "in danger." You might be, but it depends on how bad the infection is.

Mastitis is not a disease by itself. The "itis" on the end of a word means "inflammation," so really, "mastitis" means an inflamed mammary. In the case of a cow, the udder.

What causes the inflammation is either a bacterial infection or a yeast infection, and there are several of these bugs, these bacteria or other kinds of pathogen that can cause mastitis.

Will you be in danger if you drink milk from some of the cows that have mastitis? Probably. Milk from these cows can contain several strains of staphlycoccal and/or streptococcal bacteria, and these can be rather nasty on us. They don't have to be, in the early stages of bovine infection, but they can be if the cow is sick enough.

If you do drink such milk, it would depend on how bad the case of matitis is. You might not get sick at all, for "subclinical" cases of mastitis--mastitis that shows no signs--pass on some bacteria that do not do us any harm. However, in a bad case, you can and most likely will become sick and require a course of antibiotics to rid you of the infection. That's why milk from a cow known to have mastitis is thrown out. Or, at least it is supposed to be and had better be, for it is unusable because it's unsafe.

I used to live on a farm. I milked cows and for years I drank raw, untreated milk and never got sick from it, even though now and then one of our cows would come down with mastitis. Many of my friends were dairy families and we kids took "vocational agriculture" classes together and were on and off each other's farms, so I am familiar with the dairy industry and bovine diseases. Generally, you wouldn't want to drink the milk from a mastitis cow, for the milk becomes stringy, watery, and a bit clotted. it really is repulsive.

Such a cow is taken out of production and given antibiotics or antifungal treatments--whichever is the right treatment--until she is cured, which can be quite a while, depending on how bad the case is.

If the cow were sick enough, you'd need that, too, if you were to drink the milk. But I'll bet that you have drunk milk with some bacteria in it and you never even knew it.

Answer 2

Mastitis is a bacterial infection and presumably there would be a risk of the bacteria contaminating the milk. Generally this would be either staph or strep, both of which would on most occasions simply be digested, they could however be treated with fairly simple antibiotics.

Answer 3

Short answer is yes.
The lactate glands are infected with bacteria. You drink the milk, therefore you get the bacteria.
If the milk was pasteurized ( heated so bacteria would die) then you drink the dead bacteria. Dead bacteria is still recognized by your body as DNA and RNA fragments of bacteria.

Answer 4

if you were worried then Dr Frank has put your mind at rest