The Michigan Departments of Community Health (MDCH) and Agriculture and Rural Development (MDARD) are issuing a public health alert regarding E. coli O157 gastrointestinal illnesses linked to the consumption of ground beef from McNees Meats and Wholesale LLC, a meat-processing and retail establishment in North Branch, Mich.

A total of five confirmed Shiga-toxin producing E. coli cases and four probable cases have been reported in Lapeer, Genesee, Isabella, and Sanilac counties. Illness onset dates range from July 18-30. Those affected range in age from 15-88.

Cases have reported consuming ground beef either at local restaurants supplied by McNees or by purchasing beef directly from the company. MDCH and MDARD are working with local health departments and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) on this ongoing outbreak investigation to determine how widely these products are distributed.

The USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) announced Tuesday night that McNees Meats and Wholesale LLC is recalling approximately 360 pounds of ground beef products that may be contaminated with E. coli O157. As a result of an epidemiologic investigation, FSIS determined there is a link between the recalled ground beef products and the illnesses in Michigan.

The lake at Cowans Gap State Park has been closed to all activities in response to the recently reported cases of E. coli infections.

“This decision was made after six positive cases and three additional probable cases of Escherichia coli O157:H7 were identified in persons who reported swimming in the lake during late July,” according to an e-mail this evening from Terry Brady, a representative of the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.

The lake will be closed for recreational use until further notice, while the park will remain open for camping and other activities. Brady wrote that the investigation has shown no connection between the bacterial infections and the park’s potable water.

He wrote that the decision , made by DCNR and the State Department of Health, was based on interviews that showed “swimming in the lake prior to becoming ill was a common factor between all the ill individuals.”

The people who reportedly got sick range in age from two to 49 years, and all are from south central Pennsylvania, with the exception of one individual from Maryland, Brady wrote. Their exposures to the lake occurred between July 12 and July 31.

McNees Meats and Wholesale LLC., a North Branch, Mich., establishment is recalling approximately 360 pounds of ground beef product products that may be contaminated with E. coli O157:H7, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) announced today.

The products subject to recall include:

• 36 – 10 lb. Bags of “McNees Ground Beef Bulk.”

Each clear plastic bag bears establish number “EST. 33971” within the USDA mark of inspection. The products subject to recall were produced on July 15, and July 21, 2011, and sold to restaurants in Armada, Lapeer and North Branch, Mich. The products were also sold from a retail establishment owned by McNees Meats and Wholesale, LLC.

FSIS was notified of an investigation of E. coli O157:H7 illnesses on August 4, 2011.Working in conjunction with the Michigan Departments of Community Health (MDCH) and Agriculture and Rural Development (MDARD), 3 case-patients in Michigan have been identified with illness onset dates between July 18 and July 28, 2011. As a result of the epidemiologic investigation, FSIS determined there is a link between the ground beef products and the illnesses in Michigan.

Jim Tuttle of the Public Opinion of Chambersburg Pennsylvania reports that 3-year-old Mercersburg girl has reportedly been hospitalized since Wednesday, suffering from the effects of an apparent E. coli infection and a 12-year-old Chambersburg boy is now recovering from his own battle with the bacteria, having spent his birthday in the hospital.

They represent two of several recent cases linked to a specific strain of the bacteria, which is rumored to have come from the lake at nearby Cowans Gap State Park.

Officials are still investigating the source, and connections to the park remain unverified.

“There’s a very active joint effort to try and pinpoint the source of these young people becoming ill,” said Terry Brady, a spokesperson with the state’s Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.

As of Monday, the 42-acre lake at Cowans Gap remained open for swimming. While the water is typically tested twice weekly for bacteria, testing is now being done three times a week, according to Brady,

“The state park is open, the beaches are open and actually there was a good turnout today,” he said. “A link to the park has not been established.”

Oregon Public Health officials have identified fresh strawberries from a Newberg farm as the source of a cluster of Escherichia coli O157:H7 infections that sickened at least 10 people last month, including one person who died.

The strawberries were produced last month by Jaquith Strawberry Farm located at 23135 SW Jaquith Road in Newberg. Jaquith finished its strawberry season in late July, and its strawberries are no longer on the market. Jaquith sold its strawberries to buyers who then resold them at roadside stands and farmer’s markets.

Health officials are urging consumers who may have purchased strawberries grown on this farm to throw them out. Strawberries that have been frozen or made into uncooked jam are of particular concern. Cooking kills E. coli O157:H7 bacteria.

Ten people have confirmed E. coli O157:H7 infection caused by a single strain. They include residents of Washington, Clatsop, and Multnomah Counties. Six other people in northwest Oregon also have recently developed E. coli O157:H7 infection and appear to be part of this outbreak.

Of the confirmed cases, four have been hospitalized, and one elderly woman in Washington County died from kidney failure associated with E. coli O157:H7 infection. There were twelve females and four males among the cases, and their ages ranged from 4 to 85. They fell ill between July 10 and July 29.

According to news reports, Kalei Welch was hit with flu-like symptoms about a week ago. They became so bad that her parents, Beth and Ben, brought her to the hospital.

“I had actually visited early in the week, and she was very responsive, sitting up in bed, not talkative or active like a 5-year-old child would be, but she looked like she was headed at least in the right direction,” Monte said.

But Kalei’s condition worsened.

“Everything bad that could happen did happen,” Monte recalled.

Kalei died Thursday.

“Kalei was a young lady that was shimmering with life,” the family’s pastor Pastor Marc Monte said. “She had just, a couple weeks ago, turned 5-years-old.”

Now the Hendricks County Health Department is tracing the Danville girl’s steps, looking closely at the week before she fell ill, including a day at the Hendricks County Fair.

DeFranco & Sons Hazelnut E. coli Outbreak

As of April 1, 2011, eight persons infected with the outbreak strain of E. coli serotype O157:H7 were reported from Michigan (1), Minnesota (3), and Wisconsin (4).

Seltzer Brand Lebanon Bologna E. coli Outbreak

As of March 22, 2011, 14 persons infected with the outbreak strain of E. coli serotype O157:H7 have been reported from Maryland (3 cases), New Jersey (2 cases), North Carolina (1 case), Ohio (2 cases) and Pennsylvania (6 cases).

Lab tests indicate there might be more than one source behind the 22 Escherichia coli infections reported across Northeast Tennessee and Southwest Virginia over the past two months. Virginia Department of Health Spokesman Robert Parker said the tests revealed two different DNA fingerprints in the bacteria that has caused the recent rash of illnesses. One type was found in three of the six E. coli infections reported in western Virginia. Another type was found in a majority of the 16 E. coli cases in Northeast Tennessee. Other test results are still pending.

“The three cases match each other, but they don’t match any of the cases from Tennessee,” Parker said of the Virginia cases, explaining that the test results “make it less likely” the 22 cases in the region all came from the same source. Still, Parker conceded, it is possible for more than one type of bacteria to come from the same source – a fact that complicates the public health investigation of the outbreak in both states.

“This is all just part of the puzzle,” Parker said as he delivered this week’s E. coli update. “It just means it’s the same type of bug and we still have no evidence that it came from a common source.”

Eighteen people in the region were diagnosed with E. coli infections between May 8 and June 11 – including a 2-year-old Dryden, Va., girl who died June 5. The number of cases reported in such a short period of time raised an alarm for public health officials in Virginia and Tennessee.

Kirshke’s office is still waiting on results from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevent regarding a series of E. coli cases that sickened five Northeast Tennessee residents May 14, May 16, May 23 and May 28. Preliminary tests completed by his office show the bacteria in these cases were from a non-O157 E. coli strain such as E. coli O103:H11, O69:H11 or O103:H2.

Kirshke’s office cannot determine exactly what type of strain is at work in those cases, which is why cultures of the bacteria involved in the infections were sent to the CDC. But the federal health agency is facing a backlog of E. coli testing, because outbreaks of the illness also have been reported in four other states – Alabama, Idaho, Texas and Oklahoma.

“They told me not to hold my breath,” Kirshke said, adding that he was told it could be several months before he gets his test results – a delay that will hinder his attempts to determine why so many people are getting sick in such a short amount of time.