In July 2002, a group of teenage girls who had recently attended a drill team dance camp at Eastern Washington University reported diarrheal illness. The Washington State Department of Health’s Public Health Laboratory later confirmed that the illnesses were due to E. coli poisoning.
The Spokane Regional Health District received reports of other cases of
Three days after several people reported having E. coli poisoning, the Salem, Oregon, Wendy’s was voluntarily closed for being the source of the outbreak. Additional testing confirmed an additional case at a Wendy’s restaurant in Tualatin, Oregon.
A health department investigation revealed that cross contamination from contaminated ground beef was the outbreak source, where meats
In October 2004, the North Carolina Division of Public Health received reports of people with hemolytic uremic syndrome amongst residents. All had attended the North Carolina State Fair.
Investigators obtained information about animals exhibited at the fair, areas where persons could have had direct contact with animals, and the layout of animals and pens in
In May of 2002, the Rockland County Health Department was alerted to a sudden increase in E. coli O157:H7 infections in their residents. A common denominator in all the cases was the purchase of ground beef products at area BJ’s Wholesale Club stores.
Laboratory testing of purchased ground meat products confirmed the presence of E.coli
Two children in Colorado were diagnosed with E. coli at Penrose St Francis Health Services in September of 20005. The young brothers had both eaten hamburgers at the USAF Academy faculty picnic.
Further investigation revealed that the hamburgers were purchased at a Wal-Mart store and were manufactured by the Flanders Provision Company.
Other cases of
From a cluster of cases reported by the City of Milwaukee Health Department, 64 confirmed cases of E. coli O157:H7 were linked to area Sizzler restaurants – 62 in Layton and 2 in Mayfair. Of those infected, 4 people developed hemolytic uremic syndrome and 1 person died. In addition, there were reports of 551 probable
A total of 22 confirmed, 45 suspect, and 6 secondary cases of E. coli infection spread through Florida in the spring of 2005 when animals from a petting zoo infected visitors at three separate fairs. 12 people developed hemolytic uremic syndrome, but no fatalities resulted from the outbreak.
Visitors to petting zoos at the
The Minnesota Department of Health issued a press release in December 2000, regarding 17 residents who had been sicked with E. coli O157:H7.
MDH’s final report on the outbreak linked the infections to contaminated ground beef that was sold at SuperValu/Cub Foods, who issued a recall on the products.
The contaminated ground beef was
An outbreak of E. coli linked to raw milk from an unlicensed dairy in Woodland in December prompted the measure. Some 18 people in Washington and Oregon become ill, some critically.
And now, the Washington Senate has concurred with the House on a bill that will give state inspectors authority to confiscate raw milk from
Investigators are asking questions on dairies, posing as raw milk buyers to see if dairy owners will sell them some of the unpasteurized milk. When they do in states like Ohio, where the sale of raw milk is illegal, they have their licenses revoked and are heavily fined.
Raw-milk advocates tout the health benefits of