E. coli Blog - Surveillance & analysis on e. coli news & outbreaks

An unusually high number of E.coli cases have been reported in the Edmonton region in recent weeks, says the Mayerthorpe Freelancer. During the warmer summer months, the risk of food borne illness often increases as more people prepare food outdoors whether barbecuing, camping or picnicking.

Seven cases of E. coil have been reported in the Edmonton region in the last three weeks. The infections are most often the result of eating food which has been contaminated by the E. coil bacteria. Ground beef is of special concern since it is sometimes contaiminated with E. coli.

These safe food handling tips can help prevent E. coli infection:
 

• Do not prepare food for others if you are ill with diarrhea.
• Always wash your hands before handling food and after handling raw meat.
• Before and after preparing ground meat, wash the work surface and everything you used in preparing the meat with hot soapy water. (This prevents E. coli bacteria from being transferred to other foods you may prepare on the same work surface.)
• Keep hot foods hot (above 60C/140F ) and keep cold foods cold (below 4C/40F).
• Most importantly, thoroughly cook all ground beef to kill disease causing bacteria. Cooking ground beef to a temperature of 71C/160F at the centre of the hamburger patty will destroy E. coli bacteria. Use a meat thermometer to ensure the meat has reached a high enough temperature. The colour of the meat and juices are not a reliable way of ensuring ground beef is thoroughly cooked.
   

61 people in the US die of E. Coli infections each year, according to WFMY News 2.

Many parents crossed out going to the petting zoo after the 2004 E. coli outbreak at the North Carolina State Fair.

New state rules take affect later this year and some local petting zoo's are getting a jump start on it.

A petting zoo that violates the new rules can lose its license and be forced to pay a $5000 fine.
 

Food Production Daily reports that researchers at Purdue University have developed a new system that analyzes scattered laser light to quickly identify bacteria for applications in medicine, food processing and homeland security at one-tenth the cost of conventional technologies.

The technique, called Bacteria Rapid Detection Using Optical Scattering Technology, works by shining a laser through a petri dish containing bacterial colonies growing in a nutrient medium.

The work was started by Arun Bhunia, a professor of food microbiology and Daniel Hirleman, head of Purdue's mechanical engineering school.

The machine bounces particles of light, called photons, off of a bacterial colony. The pattern of scattered light is projected onto a screen behind the petri dish. Individual bacterial colonies growing in a petri dish distort light passing through them, just as a lens changes light-wave patterns. The "light-scatter pattern" is recorded with a digital camera and analyzed with sophisticated software to identify the types of bacteria growing in the colonies.

The procedure identifies a bacterial colony by comparing an image of its scatter pattern against a template that contains 120 features described by Zernike polynomials. The reduced collection of numbers describes how well the colony fits the template, and then pattern recognition software is used to classify the bacteria.

The researchers used the new system to classify six species of listeria, only one of which is a dangerous food-borne pathogen for humans. The scientists used to system to accurately identify other types of bacterial colonies, including salmonella, vibrio, E. coli and bacillus.

The technology does not require complicated lab equipment. A system could be designed so that it wouldn't require someone with a doctoral degree to operate.

The researchers have filed a provisional patent for the data-processing technique, and a full patent application has been filed on the underlying light-scattering technology.

 

A two-year-old girl died in Scotland after contracting a strain of the severe stomach bug E. coli, according to Guardian Unlimited.

The toddler died over the weekend after being admitted to Glasgow's Royal Hospital for Sick Children, suffering from what is understood to have been E. coli O157:H7. Locals confirmed her death this afternoon.

Two other children from the Dumfries and Galloway area, whose family had contact with the girl, also tested positive for E coli. Both children were admitted to Dumfries and Galloway Royal Infirmary at the weekend but have since been discharged.

The incubation period for E coli O157 is usually up to 14 days and symptoms can include diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, stomach pain and fever.

A spokesman for the Scottish executive said: "We are aware of these cases and are being kept informed by the relevant NHS boards. Our thoughts are with the families of the young children concerned."

Dr Carol Davidson, director of public health at NHS Ayrshire and Arran, said: "Investigations into the source of the infection are ongoing, but at the moment we have no reason to believe that others outside the families affected and their contacts are at any increased risk. Our thoughts are with the families involved during this very difficult time."
 

Health officials are urging South Dakotans to practice food safety precautions and good hygiene to protect themselves from the threat of E. coli, according to the Marshall County Journal.

60 percent of South Dakota cases in 2006 have been children younger than 20 years old, and 25 percent of cases are children three years old and younger. Three of the E. coli cases have resulted in hemolytic uremic syndrome, all in children 13 years and younger. There have been no deaths.

Dr. Lon Kightlinger, State Epidemiologist for the Department of Health, offered the following suggestions to prevent the spread of E. coli and other food-home illnesses:

• Avoid eating raw, rare, or undercooked ground beef or hamburger. The bacteria in meat are killed by heat when thoroughly cooked. Cook ground beef or hamburger until the pink is gone, the juices run clear, and it is hot on the inside (at least 160 degrees F).
• Clean all food preparation surfaces that will come in contact with food.
• Wash hands, utensils, plates, platters, and countertops after contact with raw meat or poultry and before contact with the same food when cooked.
• Avoid drinking from untreated water supplies. Chlorine or other effective disinfectants will kill the bacteria.
• Drink only pasteurized milk and fruit juices.
• Wash hands after working with cattle or manure.
• Careful hand-washing with soap will reduce the risk of spreading the bacteria by food handlers, in daycare settings, and by health care workers.

Unless care is taken, says the Belleville Intelligencer, that summertime favorite, hamburger, can lead to sickness, perhaps even a stay in hospital or worse.

"Unfortunately, many people get more casual about food safety when they cook outdoors," said Rebecca Mathers of the Hastings and Prince Edward Counties Health Unit. "This can lead to dangerous results, especially when cooking ground meat burgers."

If you are not careful in handling and preparing foods, particularly undercooking meats like hamburger, contamination from E. coli bacteria can result and ingestion can lead to kidney damage and even death, Mathers said.

"Cooking burgers to the proper internal temperature helps to destroy E. coli," she said. Beef burgers are done at an internal temperature of 71 C. Poultry burgers should reach an even higher internal temperature of 74 C. Mathers recommends the use of a thermometer, slipping the stem sideways into the centre of the burger to make sure the meat is done, rather than checking the color of the meat for doneness.

Health unit spokeswoman Carol Snell says that there are four words to remember when cooking either indoors or out: chill, clean, separate, cook.

Snell said to keep food in the refrigerator as opposed to on a counter or beside the barbecue; clean your hands, the workstation and produce and separate raw foods and juices to prevent cross contamination.

"Prepare foods quickly," she said. "Cook them thoroughly and serve them immediately."
 

Another E. coli outbreak has hit Middle Tennessee, sending more kids to the hospital, according to WTVF-TV Nashville.

Doctors were treating six new children Tuesday night, and there is concern more kids will get sick from the bacterial infection. Two of the patients are suffering from kidney failure. The rest are still recovering.

Unlike the E. coli outbreak in Macon County weeks ago, these six kids were not infected with E. coli from one spot, but rather were from all over central Tennessee. Doctors worry there could be even more cases to come, because E. coli is spread so easily between humans.

E. coli infection can come from under-cooked beef but also from swimming in streams, lakes, and drinking well water that cows may have contaminated. With the new cases, state health investigators began looking into those possibilities.
 

The USDA Meat and Poultry Hotline reminds consumers preparing ground beef products to heed the following advice:

• Consumers should only eat ground beef patties that have been cooked to a safe temperature of 160 degrees F. When a ground beef patty is cooked to 160 degrees F throughout, it can be safe and juicy, regardless of color.
• The only way to be sure a ground beef patty is cooked to a high enough temperature to kill harmful bacteria is to use an accurate food thermometer.
•  Color is not a reliable indicator that ground beef patties have been cooked to a temperature high enough to kill harmful bacteria such as E. coli O157:H7.
• Eating a pink or red ground beef patty without first verifying that the safe temperature of 160 degrees F has been reached is a significant risk factor for foodborne illness.
• Thermometer use to ensure proper cooking temperature is especially important for those who cook or serve ground beef patties to people most at risk for foodborne illness because E. coli O157:H7 can lead to serious illness or even death. Those most at risk include young children, seniors, and those with compromised immune systems.
   

State public health officials say there's a "small cluster" of E. coli cases in the Newton area, according to KGRN Radio of Iowa. Five cases have been reported in Jasper County. All are children.

"They've done an investigation through the Iowa Department of Public Health and haven't pinpointed an exact source," Easley says. "There's nothing that they've learned that these children shared in common experience, but they're still looking."

According to the state Department of Public Health, there have been 33 E. coli cases reported in Iowa since May 1st.

Diane Larson, director of Jasper County's Public Health Nursing Service, says the major symptom of E. coli is diarrhea. Some who fall ill suffer stomach cramps and chills. Common causes are food that's not completely cooked or eaten raw, and young children can also contract the disease from animals at petting zoos if they do not wash their hands thoroughly afterwards.
 

The Manchester Health Department found E. coli bacteria in ground beef that a family says they purchased at the Stop & Shop supermarket at 777 South Willow St.

The ground beef nearly killed the son of John and Christina Tsirovakas, who have filed a lawsuit against the grocery store chain. In response, Stop & Shop officials have said they do not believe the family's meat was contaminated at the store.

The ground beef, which had been kept in a freezer by the Tsirovakas family until being turned over to the state, tested posititve for E. coli.

Tim Soucy, director of environmental health with the city Health Department, said inspectors found two critical violations at Stop & Shop in responding on Sept. 21 to the family's claims.

One violation describes an employee grinding meat and then leaving the area without changing cloth gloves and washing hands as required. A dolley parked in front of the grind room's hand sink was cited as another violation.
 

Health investigators are trying to find out how three toddlers who attend the same day-care center in the Nebraska Panhandle contracted the E. coli virus, according to KETV7 in Omaha.

The three children range in age from 9 to 18 months and were being cared for in the Blues Clues Room at the Here Wee Grow center in Sidney. Two of the children remain hospitalized. The third child has left a hospital and is being cared for at home.

State investigators remain unsure of the source of the E. coli, which is normally a food-borne illness.

The classroom and the center's food and water supplies have been tested. A direct tie of E. coli to the center has not yetbeen confirmed.
 

A lawsuit was filed Thursday against Quincy, Massachusetts-based Stop & Shop, on behalf of an eight-year-old boy who became ill with a severe E. coli O157:H7 infection after eating ground beef purchased at a Manchester, New Hampshire, Stop & Shop.

The complaint seeks compensation for the family's significant medical-related expenses, economic losses, and for Eric's pain and suffering.

Eric consumed a hamburger made from ground beef purchased at Stop & Shop at a family barbecue. He subsequently became ill with an E. coli infection, experiencing painful abdominal cramping, nausea, vomiting, and bloody diarrhea. Twenty-four hours after being admitted to Concord Hospital, he was transferred by ambulance to Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center. Eric developed hemolytic uremic syndrome, a complication of E. coli O157:H7 infection, and spent 22 days in a pediatric intensive care unit at DHMC, undergoing several surgical procedures and eight rounds of kidney dialysis treatments after his kidneys shut down.

Eric's medical bills to date total over $100,000.
 

Over the past two and a half weeks, all eight members of the Sanders family in Hyrum have, according to The Herald Journal, been sick. The youngest child, just 16 months old, has tested positive for E. coli.

The case is one of three positive tests for the bacteria in Cache County during the last month, all of which have occurred in Hyrum's High Valley subdivision.

E.coli can be spread through a variety of ways and involves the transmission of fecal material in water or food, such as uncooked hamburger meat. The bacteria can develop into Hemolytic-Uremic Syndrome and can prove fatal in the most serious cases.

Although officials have not determined if the illnesses are related, some residents are claiming the city's water source could be the culprit. The city recently put in a new water line underneath 300 North to better serve the residents of the subdivision. Officials are now monitoring Hyrum's drinking water.

During the past month, the Health Department has conducted at least five tests of water samples in the area, but have not found any bacteria in the water.
 

Six confirmed cases of a serious E. coli infection and four additional "suspected" cases are being looked into by the state Department of Health, according to the Macon County Times.

Most of the six children with confirmed cases have been released from Sumner Regional Medical Center or treated by their family doctor and sent home with their parents. Two children, a girl age three-years and a sixteen month old boy, remain in Vanderbilt Children's Hospital where they are receiving treatment.

It seems as though the outbreak was started with one infected child spreading the bacteria to other children at the center.

The day care center voluntarily closed for the time being as a safety procedure and to make sure everything was thoroughly cleaned and sanitary before children return to avoid the possibility of further infection.

State officials are actively investigating the source of the infection, but the daycare has received good health and safety inspections in the past and has a history of adhering to high standards for the day care industry. The day care facility in Lafayette has been in continuous operation for nearly twenty years.