The recent outbreak of sickness linked to a local farm ranks among Pennsylvania’s three most severe outbreaks of disease linked to raw milk in the past five years.

The Pennsylvania Department of Health reported on Monday that raw milk produced at the Family Cow farm near Scotland was linked to 65 cases of campylobacteriosis in four states – 56 in Pennsylvania, four in Maryland, three in West Virginia and two in New Jersey.

Since 2006, Pennsylvania has had at least seven disease outbreaks linked to raw milk consumption, according to Pennsylvania Department of Health spokeswoman Holli Senior. Campylobacter bacteria has caused most of the outbreaks, and salmonella caused the remainder. More than 250 people became ill.

The two largest outbreaks were in 2008. An outbreak originating in Lancaster County sickened 72 people and another in Montgomery County made 68 people ill.

A table of raw milk-related outbreaks is available at http://bites.ksu.edu/rawmilk.