The nationwide E. coli outbreak from bagged spinach could seriously dampen the popularity of prewashed, packaged salads with time-pressed and diet-conscious Americans, reports the Associated Press.
The Food and Drug Administration’s announcement Wednesday that the bug that sickened hundreds of people matched a strain was found in an opened bag of Dole spinach.
So far
Cases matching outbreak strain by PFGE (2 enzymes): 42
Ages: 1-84 years (median = 30)
Genders: Males = 11 Females = 31
Hospitalizations = 22HUS cases = 8
Onset of illness: 8/20 to 9/10
Counties:
Dane7
Green2
Green Lake1
Manitowoc1
Milwaukee10
Outagamie1
Ozaukee7
Racine3
Waukesha10
Total42
Additional information:
•36 (86%) of 42 E. coli O157:H7
"Fresh fruits and vegetables are good for us; we should eat more," say Dr. Douglas Powell and Ben Chapman of the FoodSafety Network. Yet, they also remind us that fresh fruits and vegetables are one of, if not the most, significant source of foodborne illness today in North America, with an estimated 76 million illness
The New Mexico Department of Health announced today that it has linked the first spinach sample in the nation with the outbreak strain of E. coli 0157 that is affecting hundreds across the country.
The Scientific Laboratory Division isolated the nationwide outbreak strain from a package of spinach that one of New Mexico’s patients ate
First published in 1997 but still pertinent today, the Institute of Food Technologists’ scientific status summary on E. coli O157:H7 describes the pathogen, its ability to infect, the inherent difficulties to inactivate it, and much more.
Titled Foodborne Disease Significance of Escherichia coli O157:H7 and Other Enterohemorrhagic E. coli, the six-page document (plus references)
With fresh spinach linked to an unusually virulent outbreak that has killed one and sickened 130, the region has vaulted to new fame: the E. coli capital of America.
According to the LA Times, the whirlwind of health warnings and media reports over the past five days has tarnished the reputation of its growers and
Two year old Lily Lavender of Mobile, Alabama was diagnosed with E. coli and died due to kidney failure in a Birmingham hospital on Saturday.
Medical examiners are trying to determine how she contracted the disease. Speculation surrounds the Haven Woods Church Preschool where her mother worked and Lily spent most of her time.
The
The Laboratory Services Division of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment has confirmed the first case of spinach-related E. coli that is of the same strain as the one associated with the national outbreak.
“As would be expected in a widespread outbreak that has already affected neighboring states, Colorado now has a case
Twenty-one states have been affected by the national spinach-related E. coli outbreak. Of the 131 cases nationwide, 66 people have been hospitalized with acute E. coli O157:H7 infections, including 20 with kidney failure, and one adult in Wisconsin died.
The breakdown of how many cases by state was provided by the CDC:
Caliornia 1
Connecticut
Underberg and Kessler, a western New York law firm, has been hired to represent people who got sick after eating spinach contaminated with the E. coli bacteria. They are the same firm that represented more than 700 people who got sick last summer from the cryptosporidium parasite after a visit to the Sprayground at Seneca