Missouri E. coli Outbreak Tops 27
State health officials say there are now 27 E. coli cases in the St. Louis area outbreak.
The state Department of Health and Senior Services also said Saturday that one new case is from a Boone County resident who had recently been in St. Louis.
The department is trying to determine if two other cases in Boone County are connected to the St. Louis outbreak.
Video - the Dangers of E. coli
A good, but short video by the CDC on the dangers of E. coli O157:H7. Interestingly, there were photos of several of my clients and outbreaks that I have been involved in during the last 20 years. For more information about E. coli O157:H7 and its deadly cousins, visit www.about-ecoli.com. To understand the devastation of hemolytic uremic syndrome, visit www.about-hus.com.
Justice Jackson of Kingman Arizona home after battle with E. coli
As reported by Erin Taylor of the Kingman Miner, Justice Jackson an 8th-grader at Kingman Academy of Learning Middle School, is home after a battle with E. coli O157:H7. According to Ms. Taylor, he was diagnosed in February with a form of E. coli food poisoning known as hemolytic uremic syndrome. HUS occurs in about 10 percent of E. coli cases and can lead to kidney failure.
Jackson was released from Sunrise Children's Hospital in Las Vegas March 7. His mom, Sherry Jackson, said his kidneys are functioning at about 70 percent. He returns to Las Vegas Monday for a follow-up visit.
"He's still not out of the woods yet," Sherry said.
Justice is currently on medication for high blood pressure, which he could suffer from permanently, and he is on a highly regimented sodium-restrictive diet.
"He's not a normal 14-year-old anymore," his mom said. Sherry said her son was disappointed to miss a tournament last weekend where his Coyotes basketball team placed second. He also missed tryouts for the baseball team.
Multiplex PCR Detection of Shiga Toxin-Producing Escherichia coli Strains Belonging to Serogroups O157, O103, O91, O113, O145, O111, and O26 Experimentally Inoculated in Beef Carcass Swabs, Beef Trim, and Ground Beef
Angela M. Valadez, Chitrita Debroy, Edward Dudley, And Catherine N. Cutter
Journal of Food Protection, Vol. 74, No. 2, 2011, Pages 228–239 Copyright G, International Association for Food Protection
ABSTRACT: Numerous foodborne outbreaks are attributed to Shiga toxin–producing Escherichia coli (STEC) and have been recognized for causing gastrointestinal disease in humans. Beef products have been considered the principal source of STEC. A multiplex PCR assay enabling simultaneous detection of STEC O103, O91, O113, O145, O111, O157, and O26 was developed and evaluated in artificially contaminated beef carcass swabs, beef trim, and ground beef after overnight enrichment. Individual serogroups were experimentally inoculated at low (1 to 10 CFU/ml) and high (11 to 100 CFU/ml) levels, and with a cocktail of strains belonging to two, four, and six serogroups. There was no significant difference in detecting single STEC strains under the different conditions. Only when strains were combined were there significant differences in detection of all cocktail isolates in some of the beef products. To address this issue, four serogroups were experimentally inoculated together at three different estimated levels (10, 102, and 103 CFU/ml) in all three beef products. Results yielded no significant difference in detecting STEC at the three inoculation levels (10, 102, and 103 CFU/ml) in trim and carcass swabs, but there was a significant difference in detecting STEC at the lowest levels (10 and 102 CFU/ml) in the 80:20 nonirradiated ground beef, and in the detection of STEC in irradiated ground beef. The findings from this study could provide industry and government agencies with a tool to evaluate the prevalence and incidence of STEC in beef products and their processing environments.
Seven E. coli illnesses linked to Zillman Meat Market
Three new cases of E. coli linked to Zillman Meat Market in Wausau have been identified by the Marathon County Health Department, according to a release.
In late December, the health department identified four people who became sick after eating E. coli-infected smoked meat products purchased at Zillman. The shop conducted a thorough cleaning at that time.
The additional cases identified today by the health department involve meat products purchased before the time of the original announcement. According to the release, the cases involved meat products purchased in Wausau that were shared with family members in Michigan.
Three to Five Sickened with E. coli O157:H7 in Huron Michigan
Three individuals in Huron County have been confirmed to have E. coli O157:H7, while a fourth individual remains presumptive with lab results pending and a fifth individual tested negative for the infection.
Three of the five are hospitalized, according to a Huron County Health Department press release. Cindy Rochefort, Huron County Health Services Director, said the source of the infections has not been found, and the heath department will share the information with the community if the source is identified.
E. coli victim Derek Scott "Bubba" Kirby - Denman struggles to recover from HUS
According to Austin KWTX TV, Derek Scott “Bubba” Kirby, 3, of Goldthwaite, who’s been fighting for his young life for several weeks at Dell Children’s Medical Center in Austin, will be transferred Monday or Tuesday to Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston where he can receive more specialized care, his mother, Deven Denman, said.
Bubba contracted E. coli from the floor of a rodeo arena after he ended up with a mouthful of dirt when he was thrown from a sheep during a mutton-busting event and then developed serious complications that caused his kidneys to shut down and led to a stroke.
He’s one of the 5 to 10 percent of E. coli patients who develop a potentially life-threatening complication, hemolytic uremic syndrome, which develops when E. coli bacteria lodged in the digestive tract make toxins that enter the bloodstream and start to destroy red blood cells.
He’s unconscious and on dialysis and had a rough run last week as doctors attempted to wean him from the pain medication he’s been receiving, his mother said.
Denman said Monday doctors were starting over on the weaning process after deciding they decreased dosages too quickly.
She said she’s grateful for all of the “wonderful work that has been done for Bubba,” but said the Houston hospital has a nephrologist with state-of the-art equipment to help with the youngster’s kidneys as well as a pain management team to take over the process of weaning from medication.
She said he will also require physical therapy.
Goldthwaite residents have been holding carwashes and other benefits, selling T-shirts and praying for the youngster since learning of Bubba’s plight.
Word of the little boy’s fight has spread well beyond the town of 1,800 however, thanks to a Facebook page, Bubba’s Angels, which had more than 4,600 followers from around the country Monday.
Ten Raw Milk Product Outbreaks in Six Months - Where is the outrage from the Raw Milk Industry?
A Longmont, Colorado goat dairy that has been ordered to stop distributing raw milk products after 16 people became ill after drinking milk. Two children who drank goat milk from the Billy Goat Dairy required hospitalization, Boulder County Public Health reported Wednesday. Of the people who reported becoming ill from consuming the milk products, lab tests confirmed the presence of Campylobacter and E. coli O157:H7, the health department said.
Health department officials in Minnesota this month reported five E. coli O157:H7 infections linked to drinking raw milk from a dairy in Gibbon, Minnesota. All of the sick were infected with a strain of bacteria that has the same “pulsed field gel electrophoresis” (PFGE) pattern, or DNA fingerprint. One infected child developed Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome (HUS), a potentially deadly complication.
Counting Colorado and Minnesota, there have now been at least ten outbreaks of illness tied to raw milk since January 2010. The other states with outbreaks include Nevada, Utah (two outbreaks), New York, and Pennsylvania. There was also a multistate outbreak with illnesses confirmed in Michigan, Indiana, and Illinois. Washington has had two as well. And, even worse, these outbreaks involved at least three different pathogens: E. coli O157:H7; Salmonella, and Campylobacter. More specifically:
• In January, a dairy farm in New York was linked to five Campylobacter infections.
• Another outbreak of Campylobacter was reported in February in Pennsylvania. State health officials there said approximately ten people became ill after drinking raw milk. One of the ill developed Guillain - Barre Syndrome, became paralyzed, and is still hospitalized.
• In March, raw milk caused at least seventeen Campylobacter infections in Michigan, Illinois, Indiana.
• In April, Utah was the site of Salmonella and Campylobacter outbreaks tied to raw milk. The first cluster included nine reported cases of Campylobacter infection. The second cluster included six reported cases of Salmonella.
• In May, Nevada health officials reported that a child became seriously ill with a Campylobacter infection after eating homemade raw milk cheese that was illegally sold door-to-door.
• Washington has had two E. coli O157:H7 outbreaks both linked to the same dairy.
Raw Milk Dairy is having a problem and it needs to be fixed.
Three Beef Feedlots in Iowa Face Civil Enforcement Actions as EPA Continues Emphasis on Compliance with Clean Water Act
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Kansas City, Kan., June 9, 2010) - EPA Region 7 has taken a series of civil enforcement actions against three beef feedlot operations in Iowa for violations of the Clean Water Act, as part of a continuing enforcement emphasis aimed at ending harmful discharges of pollutants from concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) into the region’s rivers and streams.
“In some instances, we are finding harmful bacteria such as E.coli in wastewater discharged by feedlots at levels that are exponentially higher than the levels at which EPA permits municipal wastewater treatment systems to discharge their treated wastewater,” EPA Regional Administrator Karl Brooks said. “This is just one measure of the harm that can come when feedlots fail to operate within the law.”
Runoff from CAFOs may contain such pollutants as pathogens and sediment, as well as nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorous, all of which can harm aquatic life and impact water quality.
Of the three most recent enforcement actions, one involves a civil penalty against a CAFO for failure to comply with its national Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit. Bruce Feedlot, of Hastings, Iowa, has agreed to pay a $31,573 civil penalty for its unauthorized discharges of pollutants to Indian Creek and its tributaries in Mills County, Iowa. EPA’s settlement with Bruce Feedlot is subject to a 40-day public comment period before it becomes final.
The remaining two enforcement actions involve administrative compliance orders issued to medium-sized CAFOs, which are feedlots that confine between 300 and 999 cattle. EPA has documented significant water quality problems associated with medium CAFOs and is making enforcement at these operations a priority:
Groeneweg Farm, of Rock Valley, Iowa, must apply for an NPDES permit and complete wastewater controls at its facilities by October 31, 2011, to end unauthorized discharges of pollutants into an unnamed tributary of the Rock River in Sioux County, Iowa.
Gradert/Cla-Don/Winterfeld Feedlot, of Ireton, Iowa, must apply for an NPDES permit and complete wastewater controls at its facilities by October 31, 2011, to end unauthorized discharges of pollutants into Six Mile Creek in Sioux County, Iowa.