Yes, that raw milk is poison to your clients!

A milking machine at Nelly Sum’s dairy unit in Ng’echek in Nandi County. She hopes to expand in future and register as a company.30/3/2016 photo by ELIUD KIPSANG

Previously in this column, I have written about Brucellosis in cattle. This is a serious disease in dairy enterprises and pastoral systems. The disease is known for its abortions, weak or dead calves at birth, retained placenta and reduced milk production. However, the worst of it all is that there is no effective treatment for Brucellosis in cattle. The other thing about this disease is that; it can be spread to man where its management is equally difficult but luckily it can be cured.

Brucellosis is perhaps the most important zoonotic disease spread through consumption of milk from infected or reservoir cattle and goats to man. Around 500,000 cases of brucellosis are reported globally. In Kenya, the disease was thought prevalent in pastoral areas, attributed to consumption of raw or semi-cooked milk. That has since changed and brucellosis is continually being diagnosed among urban milk consumers; thanks to rampant milk vending and increasing demand for affordable milk.