Kevin Allen (right, exactly as shown) is the kind of hockey player who would take a slap shot from 20 feet, bounce it off the goalie’s head and then skate by and go, “uh, sorry.”

I was often the goalie.

He would then laugh on the bench with the other goons.

This was odd because Kevin also played goal. I once used his equipment and figured out why he was laughing after hitting me in the head: his goalie gear was way better than mine; couldn’t feel anything, and the stuff was huge. There was no net left to shoot at. How did a graduate student have far better equipment than me?

I admired Kevin’s hockey skills, and how he could play so much hockey, have a couple of kids and take so long to finish his PhD; I admired his expensive goalie equipment even more.

Kevin finally finished his PhD at Guelph, won some award at the International Association for Food Protection in 2005, he may have won more, I don’t know, went to work with Bioniche -- the E. coli O157:H7 vaccine people in Canada -- and now has landed himself a professoring job.

It’s at the University of British Columbia, that’s in Vancouver, where the winter Olympics – what The Daily Show called a series of drunken dares on ice or snow – have just wrapped up, with a parade featuring a giant inflatable beaver.

Kevin’s building his research empire and, while I don’t run help wanted or conference announcements anymore, I will if they are solely in my self-interest or at least afford me the opportunity to taunt former students. Look at the first sentence of the job description – what was he going to write, a mind-numbing post-doctoral fellowship is available? It probably helps if the candidate plays hockey. Gender doesn’t matter.

Post-doctoral fellowship opportunity
The University of British Columbia
Discipline: Molecular Food Microbiology
Faculty: Land and Food Systems
Department: Food, Nutrition and Health
Location: University of British Columbia Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
An exciting post-doctoral fellowship is available for an ambitious and highly motivated individual who has recently completed their doctoral degree. This individual will lead a research program focused on utilizing traditional and molecular approaches to examine stress response physiology, comparative genomics, and antimicrobial resistance in foodborne pathogens such as Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli, Listeria monocytogenes, and Vibrio spp. Demonstrated experience with genomics, microarray analysis, and recombinant techniques is highly desirable.
The position is a 1-year term, renewable for up to 3 years. Renewal will be based on progress, which includes scientific presentation/publication and continuation of funding. Salary is commensurate with qualifications and experience according to UBC guidelines. Candidates graduated from Food Microbiology or Microbiology possessing a strong publication record and excellent academic credentials are encouraged to apply. Applicants should send their curriculum vitae, names and full contact information for three references, and a cover letter. The cover letter should detail previous efforts relating to their molecular biology expertise and experience with foodborne pathogens.
Please submit applications electronically to Dr. Kevin Allen. Note, UBC hires on the basis of merit and is committed to employment equity. Employment requires previous completion of a doctoral degree.
Application submission address: kevin.allen@ubc.ca Competition closing date:
Until filled Webaddress: http://www.landfood.ubc.ca/faculty-members/kevin-allen
 

I don’t know what it is with baby nurseries and what I guess Americans would call daycare for the older kids in the U.K., but there are way too many outbreaks of E. coli O157.

The Hounslow Chronicle reports that as many as 25 pupils at Feltham Hill Infant & Nursery School are believed to have been infected by the E. coli bug.

A spokeswoman for the Health Protection Agency today said there were now five confirmed cases of the O157 strain, with another seven presumed positive and 13 'symptomatic' cases, which are still being investigated. She could not confirm whether everyone who had been infected was a pupil at the school in Bedfont Road.

Today, it was reported that a second nursery in Feltham has closed following a suspected outbreak of E. coli.

Once Upon a Time Nursery, in Ashford Road, closed on Friday after 11 children suffered diarrhoea and vomiting, which are symptoms of the infection.

A spokeswoman for the HPA said it was too early to say whether the infection is related to the E. coli outbreak or is an outbreak of norovirus, which has similar symptoms and is common at this time of the year.
 

Every time some government type says there are more cases of E. coli O157:H7 and other dangerous bacteria in the summertime because people barbeque more, I cringe. It’s one of those blame-the-consumer comments when the reality is more complicated. 

Most food safety interventions are designed to reduce or eliminate pathogen loads – to lower the number of harmful bugs from farm-to-fork. A piece of highly-contaminated meat can wreck cross-contamination havoc in a food service or home kitchen.

Elizabeth Weise writes in USA Today today that animals carry higher levels of E. coli O157:H7 and friends during the summer months, and summarizes efforts to lower bacterial loads on animals entering slaughter plants.

Jerold Mande, USDA deputy undersecretary for food safety, said last month,

"To take the next big step forward on food safety, we need to do more to have fewer pathogens on food animals when they arrive at the slaughterhouse gate.”

Jim Marsden of Kansas State University said that microbiologically, the biggest "bang for the buck" is cleaning the bacteria off the hide or the carcass to keep it from coming into contact with the meat.

Weise writes that a number of possible interventions are in the works. Each, it is hoped, might take down the incidence of E. coli O157:H7 by a factor of 100. Below is the edited list.

Vaccines: Gut warfare

Probably the most hopeful are vaccines that lower the amount of O157:H7 in cattle's guts. Two are furthest along, one from a Minnesota company called Epitopix and one by a Canadian company called Bioniche Life Sciences. Epitopix's vaccine has received preliminary approval from the USDA and is being tested in the USA. Bioniche's vaccine was approved in Canada last year and is in the approval process in the USA. In addition, scientists at the USDA's National Animal Disease Center in Ames, Iowa, have developed two more vaccines.

Field trials of the Epitopix vaccine showed that 86% of vaccinated cattle stopped shedding O157:H7 bacteria in their feces. Of those that still were shedding bacteria, there was a 98% reduction in the amount, says Daniel Thomson (left, photo from USA Today), a veterinarian and professor of Production Medicine at Kansas State University in Manhattan, Kan., who has studied the effectiveness of vaccine for the company.

The issue for cattlemen will be the costs of the two or three shots necessary to create immunity and the wear and tear on the cattle caused by bringing them in to be vaccinated. Going through the chute that holds them still while they're given the shot, necessary to safeguard workers, can cause some cattle to become agitated.

Phages: A spray of bacteria fighters

Cattle walking through a car-wash-like spray of bacteria-eating viruses called phages sounds more science fiction than feedlot, but it's actually in use across the USA. In cattle, a phage that is specific to E. coli O157:H7 is sprayed on the animals one to four hours before they're slaughtered. "They like to have them soak," says Dan Schaefer, director of beef research and development at in Wichita. Cargill is testing the spray at one of its plants.

Probiotics: 'Exclusion' cultures

Basically these are bacterial cultures much like those in yogurt, given to cattle in their feed. They're called "competitive exclusion" cultures because they out-compete the bad bacteria and exclude them in the animals' guts. Michael Doyle, director of the Center for Food Safety at the University of Georgia in Griffin, spent years investigating them.

One for E. coli O157:H7 "worked really well for a while and then it stopped working for a while," he says. Doses required are often higher than those claimed by the companies that sell them, he says. Currently these aren't approved by USDA or FDA as E. coli reduction methods, so the companies that market them can't make any specific claims for them.

Sodium chlorate: A 'suicide pill'

This chemical is used in part to do environmentally safe paper bleaching. But administered in extremely small amounts, it also plays a deadly trick on E. coli O157:H7 and salmonella.

In the oxygen-free environment of a cow's gut, these bacteria are able to obtain energy from nitrogen. But they can't tell the difference between nitrogen and chlorate, so if there's chlorate present, they try to use that. This turns the chlorate into bleach, killing the bacteria from the inside without harming the animal.

Grain vs. high-quality hay

Research in Texas, Kansas and Idaho has shown that switching cattle from grain to a more expensive diet of high quality hay before slaughter may lower E. coli O157:H7 rates, though the findings have not always been consistent.

From an epidemiologic standpoint, it's clear that these pre-slaughter interventions lower the E. coli O157:H7 burden in the cattle, says Guy Loneragan, a professor of animal science and expert in O157:H7 in cattle at West Texas A&M University in Canyon, Texas.

The question is whether investing money on the ranch and feedlot will save money at the packing plant.

There are two universities in the Ontario, Canada, town of Waterloo – the University of Waterloo, from whence the Blackberry, and text searching and CCD toys and all sorts of things emerged – and the smaller, business-oriented uni across the street, Wilfrid Laurier, named after the dude on the Canadian $5 bill and former Prime Minister.

Two students and a staff member at Wilfrid Laurier University are recovering from E. coli poisoning after being treated in hospital, the region’s public health department has confirmed.

A fourth person, also a student at Laurier, was a “probable case” with symptoms, but no laboratory confirmation.

Dr. Hsiu-Li Wang, associate medical officer of health for Waterloo Region, said health officials inspected all food preparation areas thoroughly on campus and, “We found no evidence of any potentially unsafe food handling practices.”

But did they source food from safe sources? Especially the stuff that was going to be served fresh?