Infectious diseases transmitted with milk: literature review

Abstract

Milk is an excellent nutrient medium in which most saprophytic bacteria and pathogenic microbes grow well under certain conditions. Contamination of milk substrates by microbial pathogens is the cause of the spread of infectious diseases not only from the group of intestinal infections, but also infections with multiple mechanisms of pathogen transmission. Widespread consumption of milk determines the ubiquitination of infectious diseases, in which this product can serve as a factor of pathogen transmission. About 4% of infectious diseases worldwide are associated with milk consumption. The sources of infection are, as a rule, dairy animals, which are the reservoir of pathogens; the factors contributing to the contamination of milk with pathogenic and opportunistic pathogens are technological and sanitary-hygienic violations in the production, storage and sale of dairy products. Despite the fact that the route of transmission of infections with milk is widespread, it is the most underestimated among other intestinal infections. To date, there are no simple and rapid tests to detect the presence of pathogens such as Brucella spp., Coxiella burnetii, Salmonella typhimurium, Campylobacter spp. in milk, the invention of which could significantly reduce the burden of milkborne diseases. This review discusses the epidemiologic importance of milk and milk products in the spread of infectious diseases and possible areas of prevention.

Keywords

• milk
• dairy products
• milk-borne diseases
• intestinal infections
• zoonoses.