Raw milk has spent the last couple of years as a wellness darling — creamier, "more natural," sold with a wink about how our great-grandparents drank it just fine. This week it's back in the news for the reason pasteurization was invented in the first place.
On September 25, the CDC announced an outbreak of E. coli O26:H11 linked to raw milk cheese. As of the latest update, 13 people across nine states have been confirmed sick. Eight of them have been hospitalized, and three have developed hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), a serious complication that can damage the kidneys. No deaths have been reported.
The detail that makes this one different from the usual recall churn: over half of the sick people are children 5 years old and younger.
Sierra Nevada Cheese Company has recalled all varieties of its Graziers raw milk cheese, per the FDA's outbreak investigation page. That includes:
These were sold in 8-ounce and 16-ounce retail packages, plus 5-pound loaves that went to food service. Here's why this recall deserves an actual trip to your fridge rather than a shrug: hard cheese keeps for months. A block bought weeks ago can still be sitting in the cheese drawer looking perfectly innocent. If you find any, the CDC's advice is blunt — don't eat it, don't cook with it, throw it away or return it, and wash whatever it touched.
This isn't a lecture. Plenty of adults weigh the trade-offs and make their own call. But the marketing around raw dairy tends to skip the part where E. coli, when it shows up, shows up hard — and it lands hardest on the people least equipped to handle it: young kids, older adults, pregnant women, and anyone with a weakened immune system. Half the case list being preschoolers is that math playing out. If raw cheese is in your rotation, at minimum keep it away from the toddler's plate.
E. coli O26 symptoms usually start with severe stomach cramps, diarrhea that often turns bloody, and vomiting. The CDC says to get medical care if you have diarrhea plus a fever over 102°F, or bloody diarrhea lasting more than two days. In kids especially, watch for signs of dehydration and for anyone who seems to be peeing much less than usual — that can signal HUS, and it's an emergency.
To be clear about something we say in every outbreak piece: a suspected E. coli infection is a doctor's job, full stop. Diagnosis takes a stool test, treatment decisions are genuinely tricky (antibiotics can make some E. coli infections worse), and nothing sold for hemorrhoids treats or prevents an infection. See a doctor first.
Here's why an E. coli story is on a hemorrhoid blog. A multi-day bout of diarrhea is one of the most reliable hemorrhoid aggravators there is, for three unglamorous reasons:
So people come out the other side of a stomach bug with the infection resolved and a flare-up just getting started.
Once a doctor has cleared the infection side, hemorrhoid comfort care while everything calms down is pretty simple:
That's temporary symptom relief while water, rest, and time do the real work — not a treatment for anything the cheese did.
Bleeding beyond streaks on the paper, severe or worsening pain, a hard and very painful lump, or a flare that drags past two weeks: those earn a medical opinion, not another week of toughing it out.
Check the cheese drawer. It takes thirty seconds, and this particular block is not worth the week that follows.
This article is for informational purposes only and is not medical advice. Talk to a healthcare provider about any persistent or concerning symptoms.