A reported case involving a 33-year-old man who developed heart failure following a Brucella infection has renewed attention on the food-safety risks associated with consuming raw, unpasteurised milk.
According to NDTV, the man had been consuming raw buffalo milk and developed brucellosis, a bacterial infection that can be transmitted through contaminated animal products, including unpasteurised milk and dairy products. The infection subsequently affected his heart, causing infective endocarditis, an infection of the heart's inner lining and valves, which led to heart failure.
Brucellosis Can Spread Through Contaminated Dairy
Brucellosis is caused by bacteria of the Brucella group and can spread from infected animals to humans through direct animal contact or consumption of contaminated animal products.
Symptoms can include persistent or recurring fever, sweating, fatigue, headache, loss of appetite and muscle or joint pain. In some cases, the infection can affect organs including the heart.
The reported case highlights that a foodborne infection can, in uncommon circumstances, progress beyond initial symptoms and cause serious complications.
Pasteurisation Remains a Key Food-Safety Control
Raw milk has not undergone pasteurisation, the heat treatment used to destroy disease-causing microorganisms.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lists Brucella, Campylobacter, E. coli, Listeria and Salmonella, among other pathogens, as potential contaminants of raw milk. The agency recommends choosing pasteurised milk and dairy products, particularly because certain groups—including young children, older adults, pregnant women and people with weakened immune systems—face a higher risk of serious illness from these pathogens.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration similarly states that raw milk can contain disease-causing pathogens and that pasteurisation effectively kills these microorganisms without significantly affecting milk's nutritional quality.
Raw Milk Safety Requires More Than Good Farm Practices
Good hygiene and responsible handling can reduce contamination risks, but they cannot guarantee that raw milk is free from harmful pathogens.
Evidence from a CDC investigation published in 2025 also documented a large Salmonella outbreak associated with commercially distributed raw milk, involving 171 identified cases across California and four other states. The outbreak investigation found the outbreak strain in raw milk and raw-milk cheese.
For the dairy industry, the reported brucellosis case reinforces the importance of animal-health surveillance, hygienic milking, cold-chain management, pathogen monitoring and effective pasteurisation controls in protecting consumers.
The case does not mean that drinking milk itself causes heart failure. Rather, it illustrates how contamination with a disease-causing organism in unpasteurised dairy products can, in some cases, lead to severe infection and complications.
Source: Dairynews7x7 02 Oct, 2026 Read full story here
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