The CDC reports: Shigellosis is a nationally notifiable diarrheal illness caused by gram-negative bacteria. Shigella infection is spread through fecal-oral transmission and sexual contact. Although most infections are self-limited, antibiotics are indicated for severe illness or to reduce transmission in settings with high risk for spread. Since 2015, a growing proportion of cases has been caused by […]
So, first some facts: the CDC reports that Escherichia coli O157:H7 is a leading cause of foodborne illness. Based on a 1999 estimate, 73,000 cases of infection and 61 deaths occur in the United States each year. The CDC found also that from 1996-2004, the incidence of E. coli O157:H7 infections decreased 42 percent. However, […]
Helen Altonn of the Hawaii Star Bulletin profiled crack Epidemiologist, Dr. Paul Effler, as he helped break the outbreak of a rare type of salmonella poisoning on Oahu that is linked to similar cases on the mainland. The case was cracked through the use of "genetic fingerprints" of the bacteria’s DNA. According to the Bulletin, […]
My insomnia got the better of me this morning. So, as I cruised the Internet for tidbits on food poisoning I found a few interesting morsels. Lately I have been obsessing about how the safety of raw milk has become so tied up with anti-big Ag, save the family farm and the un-verified health benefits. […]
Multistate Outbreak of Human Salmonella Infections Associated with Exposure to Turtles — United States, 2007–2008 As of January 18, 2008, a total of 103 cases with isolates indistinguishable from the outbreak strain had been reported to CDC from 33 states. Of the 100 patients for whom age information was available (median age: 7.5 years; range: […]
From the pages of "Barfblog:" Fifteen years ago this week, Seattle lawyer Bill Marler and Kansas State University professor Douglas Powell were drawn into the food safety arena when the Washington Department of Health announced that Jack in the Box restaurants were the source of a multi-state outbreak of E. coli O157:H7 infections. Now, the […]
Advanced Strategies for Managing and Defending Food Contamination Claims Thursday, February 28, 2008 to Friday, February 29, 2008 Millennium Resort, Scottsdale McCormick Ranch, Scottsdale, AZ, United States Overview 2007 was the year of the recall, with E. coli contamination increasing sharply in 2007 over the previous two years. And it’s not just beef recalls and […]
I also had the chance, sitting here at the Seattle Airport on my way to a status conference in the E. coli outbreak from the summer of 2006 involving a Wendy’s restaurant in Utah, to read again the full report on the Organic Pastures raw milk outbreak from the fall of 2006. It is an […]
2007 was a record year for hamburger-related food safety recalls – over 20 individual recalls involving over 33 million pounds of meat. Because of the failure of the beef industry and government to protect the public, the law firm of Marler and Clark has approved a project to commission a baseline study to determine the […]
I was reading The China Daily (my source of “real news”) and stumbled across this article by Zhu Zhe – “Beijing food, drug safety drive ‘complete success.’” Unlike Food Safety Authorities in every other part of the world, Chinese “[a]uthorities in Beijing Wednesday declared the city’s four-month campaign against unsafe food and drugs a "complete […]
According to the Kern Faculty Medical Group, they expect to have enough hepatitis A vaccine shots after supplies temporarily ran out Saturday. The medical group had given about 90 vaccine shots Saturday morning before supplies ran out, said Dr. Mansukh Ghadiya with the clinic. Public health officials made arrangements with Kern Faculty Medical Group for […]
I don’t talk about norovirus much on the pages of my blog despite the fact that norovirus is estimated to cause 23 million cases of acute gastroenteritis (commonly called the "stomach flu") in the U.S. each year, and are the leading cause of gastroenteritis. Of viruses, only the common cold is reported more often than […]
I missed out on the Legislative Hearing in California on Raw Milk bacterial limits. However, one of my crack lawyers was there and the hearing is all of tape for later use (from the video it reminds me of a Grateful Dead concert). The bottom line seems to be that the lawmakers felt the Department […]
It reads like the who’s who of restaurants – Carl’s Jr., Chi-Chi’s, D’Angelo’s, Friendly’s, Houlihan’s, Maple Lawn Dairy, McDonald’s, Quizno’s, Silver Grill Location Catering, Subway, Taco Bell – who we have sued over the last dozen years for allowing either a Hepatitis A infected worker to serve food, or serve food already infected with Hepatitis […]