Cluster of two cases of botulism due to Clostridium baratii type F in France, November 2014

The first two cases in France of botulism due to Clostridium baratii type F were identified in November 2014, in the same family. Both cases required prolonged respiratory assistance.

Clostridium baratii type FOne of the cases had extremely high toxin serum levels and remained paralysed for two weeks. Investigations strongly supported the hypothesis of a common exposure during a family meal with high level contamination of the source. However, all analyses of leftover food remained negative.

Euro Surveill. 2015;20(6)

Castor C, Mazuet C, Saint-Leger M, Vygen S, Coutureau J, Durand M, Popoff MR, Jourdan Da Silva N.

http://www.eurosurveillance.org/ViewArticle.aspx?ArticleId=21031

69 sick: Water supply causes mass hepatitis A infection in Russia

Water supply companies in Russia’s republic of Dagestan are facing a criminal investigation after 69 people became infected with Hepatitis A from drinking water.

dangerous_face_waterAn online statement posted Thursday by Russia’s health watchdog Rospotrebnadzor said that cases were recorded in three different places in the North Caucasus republic: the towns of Derbent and Dagestanskiye Ogni and the village of Gedzhukh. Fifty-eight of those infected were children.

The victims all complained of feeling generally ill and noticing a yellow tint to the skin, the RGVK Dagestan television channel reported.

Laboratory testing indicated that the local water supply was to blame for the outbreak, according to the statement, noting that all the victims received their drinking water from the same water main.

Infants and turtles don’t mix: Irish mom says ‘experience was torturous’

The mother of an 11-week-old baby who was left fighting for his life after contracting terrapin-related botulism said nobody knew what was happening at the time because “no one had seen anything like it.”

turtleKris Edlund Gibson, the mother of the first child in Ireland to be diagnosed with the disease, said her newborn son Oliver was hospitalized in December 2010 when he began struggling to breathe.

He was the first person in Ireland to be diagnosed with Type E Botulism originating from the two terrapins his parents kept.

“The experience was torturous to us,” said Ms Gibson. “It is impossible to put into words how painful it is to see one’s newborn in that state. It was equally as painful to have to walk away and leave him there night after night.

“I wanted to get rid of the turtles before Oliver was born because I thought they smelled awful and I was worried about salmonella. The only reason we ended up keeping them was because we couldn’t find anyone to take them. I didn’t want to just take them to a pond and dump them so we kept them.”

How researchers become widgets: UK Newcastle University in take-over bid of government food safety agency

Scientists in the North East will soon be responsible for the future of food safety after winning a joint bid to take-over the Government’s Food and Environment Research Agency (Fera).

newcastle.universityNewcastle University has been selected as the preferred bidder to form a joint venture with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) to operate its food and environmental research arm in York.

For 30 years Fera has led the research on major food safety projects in the wake of food fraud scandals such as ‘horsegate’ and foot and mouth.

Now, outsourcing giant Capita has chosen Newcastle University as its science partner to run the research part of the new multimillion pound organisation.

Capita will make an initial investment of £20m for a 75% stake in the joint venture, with further investment, in cash, kind and dividends, during the following five years.

The joint venture will bring together around 40 researchers from Newcastle University.

Capita chief executive, Andy Parker, said: “The excellent science being carried out by staff at Fera has not yet been able to reach its full commercial potential because of obvious limits on investment, recruitment and marketing.

“Capita’s commercial know-how will complement the Fera team’s scientific expertise, helping it to grow the scientific capability it can offer existing and new customers. Working together, we will create a more efficient and improved organisation allowing scientists to focus on the science and its delivery.”

Heard it all before. Best wishes.

Outbreaks from raw milk on the rise in US

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control reports that outbreaks caused by raw milk increased over a six-year period, according to a newly released CDC study. The study reviewed outbreaks caused by raw milk–milk that has not been pasteurized to kill disease-causing germs–in the United States that were reported to CDC from 2007-2012. The study analyzed the number of outbreaks, the legal status of raw milk sales in each state, and the number of illnesses, hospitalizations, and deaths associated with these outbreaks.

colbert.raw.milkMore states are legalizing the sale of raw milk even though this leads to an increase in the number outbreaks.

Findings also showed that the number of states that have legalized the sale of raw milk has also increased. In 2004, there were 22 states where the sale of raw milk was legal in some form; however, this number increased to 30 in 2011. Eighty-one percent of outbreaks were reported in states where the sale of raw milk was legal.

Children were at the highest risk for illness from raw milk. About sixty percent of outbreaks involved at least one child younger than five years of age.

 Raw milk is a risk for human health.

You cannot look at, smell, or taste raw milk to determine if it is safe. Cows and other animals can appear healthy and clean, but can still have germs, like Salmonella and E. coli, which can cause illnesses in humans.

Milk cannot be collected without introducing some bacteria– even under ideal conditions of cleanliness. Unless the milk is pasteurized, these bacteria can multiply.

Even raw milk supplied by “certified,” “organic,” or “local” dairies has no guarantee of being safe. Raw milk from grass-fed animals is not considered safe either. 

raw-milk-infographic2-508c

 

At least 4 sick: consumers warned to throw out Nanna’s Frozen Berry 1kg packets linked to Hepatitis A outbreak

In a just-published follow-up to the Hepatitis A link to Nanna’s frozen berries – sourced from China and Chile — angry consumers have taken to social media after four hepatitis A cases sparked a health warning about a frozen berries product.

395692-443c1b42-b3ce-11e4-b41b-d516c533d6a5The Internet sorta works for some, in Australia, I guess.

It’s Saturday afternoon here and the company says it will publish adverts in the Monday papers? It really is 1978 here (for some).

The Department of Health is calling on the company to recall the product after three Victorian adults and one in New South Wales were diagnosed with the disease.

Customers this morning blasted the company for not issuing any advice on their web channels.

Some customers were frustrated after they saw a Valentine’s Day post on the Nannas Facebook page was quickly removed as news of the outbreak came to the fore.

Others posting on the Facebook page demanded a refund on any medical check-ups they might need to undergo.

nanna's.berriesOne wrote: “You have nothing on your Facebook page and are still promoting the contaminated product on your website. This is completely unacceptable, negligent.”

Another said she was “unhappy” after she had eaten the mixed berries only yesterday and asked for “further information on the recall issued and how to go about refund and medical tests.”

And another said she found it “highly irresponsible” for a Valentine’s Day post to be added “but no post regarding the potential Hepatitis A risk.”

Hepatitis A, Listeria for hospital patients, Salmonella: is anyone responsible for food safety in Australia?

A day after New South Wales (that’s a state in Australia) revealed that one had died and at least 23 sickened from Salmonella in food served at aged facilities, one kilogram bags of Nanna’s frozen mixed berries are being pulled off supermarket shelves across Australia because of a link to the virus Hepatitis A.

frozen.strawberryHave any of these 6-figure bureaucrats seen the numerous stories linking Hep-A to frozen berries that have been circulating for at least two years?

Stores are being advised and there will be advertisements in national newspapers on Monday.

That’s because the Internet sucks in Australia, so people still newspapers.

1978.

The berries came from China and Chile and were packed at Patties, a company based at Bairnsdale, in eastern Victoria.

The company has been contacted for comment.

Dr Rosemary Lester, the state’s chief health officer, said frozen berries had been implicated in past outbreaks of Hepatitis A.

“Hepatitis A virus infection is uncommon and normally associated with travel to countries affected by endemic Hepatitis A,” she said.

“The only common link between the cases is consumption of this product. There is no overseas travel or common restaurant exposure.

“Sampling of the product will be undertaken to identify the virus but it is difficult to find Hepatitis A virus, even in a contaminated batch.”

The berries have a two-year shelf life and any product purchased from October 2014 onwards should be thrown out.

In a seperate recall, a number of hospitals have been told to throw out a chocolate mousse product, found in routine tests, to contain listeria.

The mousse, which had a use-by date of February 14, 2015, was supplied to the Austin Hospital, St Vincent’s Private, St Vincent’s Mercy, Brunswick Private, the Royal Children’s Hospital, Ballarat Health Services, Caulfield Hospital, Sandringham Hospital, Frankston Hospital and Rosebud Hospital.

Wanis Ltd in UK recalls Africa’s Finest Ground Egusi (Melon Seeds) due to presence of Salmonella

Brits aren’t so good at this recall thing either: no info on how the Salmonella was detected, no info if anyone is sick.

Wanis Ltd is recalling Africa’s Finest Ground Melon Seeds because Salmonella has been detected.

Product recall notices have been displayed in the stores selling this product and on the company’s website. This notice alerts customers to the recall and advises them of what actions to take if they have bought the product. A copy of the point-of-sale notice is attached to this alert (below, hopelessly unhelpful).

salm.melon.seed.feb.15

 

E. coli cases doubled in Kensington and Chelsea last year

The number of E. coli cases in Kensington and Chelsea almost doubled in 2014 compared to the year before.

claudia.e.coli.petting.zoo.may.14Last year there were 144 cases of the food poisoning from the West London NHS CCG area, which covers Kensington and Chelsea, Queen’s Park and Paddington – up 48.5% from 97 cases in 2013, according to figures released this week by Public Health England.

In Hammersmith and Fulham, cases went up by 21.3% in 2014, from 61 cases to 74, but in Westminster they went down by 8.3% from 72 to 66.

All areas saw a big decrease in superbug MRSA (or staph) which is often caught in hospitals or nursing homes and infects the skin which can cause blood poisoning or an infection of the heart’s inner lining.

Both Hammersmith and Fulham and West London CCG had a 40% decrease in cases in 2014, with just three and six cases respectively and Westminster had a 33.3% reduction with two cases in 2014.

In 2010, a new superbug lab was launched at Charing Cross Hospital which also serves St Mary’s and Chelsea and Westminster Hospitals. It was the first of its kind in Europe.

Why I let my kids watch South Park: Vaginas, for steaming and yogurt

It was bad enough when ex-Coldplay fan Gwyneth Paltrow hawked the vaginal steam (“The real golden ticket here is the Mugworth V-Steam: You sit on what is essentially a mini-throne, and a combination of infrared and mugwort steam cleanses your uterus, et al … It is an energetic release — not just a steam douche — that balances female hormone levels. If you’re in L.A., you have to do it”).

FFN_RIJ_IRON_MAN3_042413_51078055-1Now, Cecilia Westbrook, an MD/PhD student at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, has decided to see if it was possible to make yogurt from vaginal bacteria.

Westbrook noted that the most common bacteria found in a healthy vagina was lactobacillus, the same bacteria commonly found in yogurt. She figured she could easily whip up a batch of yogurt just by extracting some of her vagina’s bacteria with a wooden spoon.

Homemade yogurt is traditionally made by mixing a small amount of a yogurt starter culture with some milk and heating it.

However, Westbrook discovered there was not much information on making yogurt with vaginal bacteria — or much information on vaginal bacteria at all, according to an interview she gave to Jezebel.

“I was actually surprised to know that we really don’t know a lot about vaginal flora, There’s really been only one or maybe two big studies and, interestingly, most of the information that we do know about is from white women, which suggests that there might be some indication that people from different ethnic backgrounds might have different flora. I was surprised about how much we didn’t know.”

To do the experiment, Westbrook used three bowls: One with yogurt made with a traditional starter culture, one with just plain milk, one with just milk and her own bodily contribution.

Westbrook left out the batches overnight and awoke to find a decent amount of yogurt in that third bowl, according to Westbrook’s friend, Janet Jay, who wrote the VICE article on the experiment.

Jay said Westbrook’s experiment was done on her own time and not connected with any class assignments. The two attended Carnegie Mellon together a few years ago, but the vagina yogurt experiment has its roots in conversations that started last summer.

“It just started with us riffing on vagina puns, pretty much,” Jay told HuffPost. “It was just a cool weird little experiment for us all to giggle at.”

Theresa Eisenman, press officer at the U.S. Federal Drug Administration’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, told VICE that “vaginal secretions are not considered ‘food’, and they may transmit human disease, a food product that contains vaginal secretions or other bodily fluids is considered adulterated.”