I did it years before Johnny Cash (mine is 1980), but just in general (although I did have the Cash pic on my office door — the office I never used except to store stinky hockey equipment for me and Chapman once the lab folks complained).
Doug Powell responds to the support he has received from food safety types (with a few exceptions) since moving to Brisbane in 2011 to support his French professor wife.
While cyclosporiasis cases are reported year-round in the United States, cyclosporiasis acquired in the United States (i.e., “domestically acquired”, or cases of cyclosporiasis that are not associated with travel to a country that is considered endemic for Cyclospora) is most common during the spring and summer months. The exact timing and duration of U.S. cyclosporiasis seasons can vary, but reports tend to increase starting in May. In previous years the reported number of cases peaked between June and July, although activity can last as late as September. The overall health impact (e.g., number of infections or hospitalizations) and the number of identified clusters of cases (i.e., cases that can be linked to a common exposure) also vary from season-to-season.
The number of reported cases of domestically acquired cyclosporiasishas increased from the previous month and remains elevated in the United States since May 1, 2019.
As of August 28, 2019, 1,696 laboratory-confirmed cases of cyclosporiasis were reported to CDC by 33 states, District of Columbia and New York City in people who became ill since May 1, 2019 and who had no history of international travel during the 14-day period before illness onset.
The median illness onset date was June 29, 2019 (range: May 1–August 13, 2019).
At least 92 people were hospitalized; no deaths were reported.
At this time, multiple clusters of cases associated with different restaurants or events are being investigated by state public health authorities, CDC, and FDA.
One multistate outbreak of Cyclospora infections has been linked to fresh basil imported from Siga Logistics de RL de CV of Morelos, Mexico . It is unknown at this time if other reported cases of Cyclospora infection in the United States this season are linked to fresh basil. This investigation is ongoing.
Many cases of cyclosporiasis could not be directly linked to an outbreak, in part because of the lack of validated molecular typing tools for C. cayetanensis.
States reporting cases: 33
Deaths: 0
Hospitalizations: 92
2019 domestically acquired cases of Cyclosporiasis
29.aug.19
CDC
https://www.cdc.gov/parasites/cyclosporiasis/outbreaks/2019/a-050119/index.html
Driving down I-75 from Detroit to Englewood, Florida (starting point was Brantford, Ontario, that’s in Canada) for a couple of weeks became a summer-time routine because gramps was only there in his mobile home in the winter months, and I guess it prepped me for summers in Kansas and Brisbane.
But we never stopped at a Cracker Barrel which littered the Interstate.
Despite its down-home appearance, the food was shit and over-priced.
According to Fox 55 the clock is ticking for customers to get vaccinated after a Saginaw County restaurant worker tests positive for Hepatitis A.
The person last worked at the Bridgeport Township Cracker Barrel on Sunday, Aug. 25.
But the Saginaw County Health Department (SCHD) is urging anyone who ate there between Sunday, Aug. 25 and Wednesday, Aug. 28 to get vaccinated right away.
“With an exposure you have up to two weeks to get vaccinated,” explained Health Officer Christina Harrington with the SCHD. “It’s going to prevent you from getting the disease.”
And yes, I own this album (above, left, listen for the reference to I-75 in the version below) and Chapman hates it.
I guess people think I don’t exist, but I am here, just not in the corporate-academic-producer group-government meeting mode.
I hang out at supermarkets and talk with people.
I went to my Commons this morning, and saw these ribs and bought a pack, not because I wanted ribs but because of the labelling.
According to Produce Retailer, online grocery shopping remains an option that most people do not use, according to a new poll.
Gallup found that 81% of U.S. consumers never order groceries online, while 11% do so at least once a month, according to a news release.
That’s nice.
I remember a line from a Kurt Vonnegut novel about how increasing technology would be silly because he wouldn’t be able to go to the bank and chat with his favorite teller.
I’m back home now after almost 3 weeks away, and it’s a shock.
Sure there’s booze and genetics, but there’s other stuff going on in my brain that we mere mortals just can’t diagnose at this time.
My brain will go to the Sports Bank in Sydney when I die.
But that may not be for a long time.
And I can’t imagine life without going to my Commons and laboratory – the supermarket – at least every other day.
I am fortunate to be surrounded by people and professionals who love and care for me. It’s quite humbling, but as Chapman has said, I’ve done my time and don’t owe anyone anything.
Ben, that’s not how it works.
I decided to change things up while my partner and daughter went to the U.S. for two weeks and I tried out a new mental health facility.
After almost three weeks I am revitalized, passionate, and engaged.
I’m writing, I’m exercising, I’m eating well, I’m heathy. These are the cornerstones of on-going functioning.
And I’m finally starting – if not to love myself – to better understand who I am, what’s actually important, and the awful, awful damage that alcohol and the pursuit of being important has done to myself and those around me.
And all those pucks to the head, the PTSD from the car crash, the four years of playing linebacker in football, and the numerous concussions from just falling down.
If it gets to on-line grocery shopping, cart me away.
Rebecca Trager of Chemistry World reports U.S. researchers have created a handheld detection system that is sensitive enough to catch just a few particles of norovirus.
University of Arizona biomedical engineer Jeong-Yeol Yoon and his team have created a highly sensitive portable detection system capable of spotting norovirus at levels that can make people sick. The work was presented the American Chemical Society’s national meeting in San Diego, California on 27 August.
As few as 10 norovirus particles can cause vomiting and diarrhoea in humans and the virus is extremely contagious so early detection is vital to prevent outbreaks. However, the virus does not grow in laboratory cultures and current detection methods rely on specialised and time-consuming PCR (polymerase chain reaction) techniques.
Yoon’s research team previously developed a smartphone-based device that measured light-scattering from norovirus-bound polystyrene beads in a paper microfluidic chip. It has now improved the device’s detection limit by changing to a fluorescence-based method.
‘I looked at Amazon.com and saw that they sell a lot of these smartphone attachments – smartphone microscope attachments – that turn your phone turns into a microscope, and by adding a couple of other components, I could convert the smartphone-based microscope into a fluorescence microscope,’ Yoon explains.
The setup uses a microscope accessory with a separate light source and two optical filters. He and colleagues also designed a 3D printed case to house the components.
To test a sample, it is first added to the paper microfluidic chip, followed by a suspension of fluorescent beads labelled with norovirus antibodies. After three to five minutes, the antibodies bind to any norovirus particles in the sample, creating aggregates of the fluorescent beads that spread out along the channels of the chip. The resulting increase in fluorescence intensity around each norovirus particle can be detected by taking a picture of the chip with the smartphone’s camera.
An app that the team has also developed then analyses the picture to calculate the sample’s norovirus concentration from the pixel count in the image. So far, the lowest detection limit corresponded to about 5 or 6 norovirus particles per sample, Yoon says. He estimates that the material costs of this system, aside from the cell phone and app development costs, are about $200.
Every year, studies about food handlers’ food safety knowledge, attitudes, and practices are published. Some results of these papers have been rather controversial, especially those related to food safety practices.
The two most common methods for evaluating food safety practices – self-assessment and observation – are generally treated as interchangeable, but they can have different meanings. The objective of this study was, therefore, to differentiate between the observed and self-reported food safety practices of food handlers, verifying the effect of different variables in these food safety indicators through structural equation modeling, and examining the relationship between cognitive factors and these practices.
A questionnaire with 37 questions was given to 183 food handlers to evaluate their food safety knowledge, attitudes, self-reported practices, and risk perceptions. For the observed assessment method of evaluating the food handlers’ practices (observed practices), a checklist was developed, and food handlers were observed during one workday.
Two models were developed based on the results of these two assessment methods. In the first model a significant positive effect of knowledge and a negative effect of risk perception on self-reported practices were observed. Food handlers with high risk-perception about their practices reported less adequate practices. Positive food safety attitudes acted as a moderator dampening the positive effect between knowledge and self-reported practices. In the second model a significant positive effect of knowledge on observed practices. Attitudes strengthened the positive effect between knowledge and observed practices.
A direct effect of attitude on observed practices was not observed. In conclusion, self-reported practices and observed practices are different and should be used and discussed properly.
The differences between observed and self-reported food safety practices: A study with food handlers using structural equation modeling 23 August 2019
Food Research International
Diogo Thimoteoda Cunhaa1Veridiana Verade Rossob2Mariana BessiPereirac3ElkeStedefeldtd4
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodres.2019.108637
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S096399691930523X
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control reports in August 2018, two Oregon patients with diagnosed Salmonella infection were interviewed using a standard enteric illness questionnaire; both patients reported having eaten raw cake mix.
Standardized interview questionnaire data collected from 207 Oregon patients with salmonellosis in 2017 indicated a 5% rate of consumption of raw “cake mix or cornbread mix” (Oregon Health Authority, unpublished data, 2017). The binomial probability that both 2018 patients were exposed to raw cake mix by chance was determined to be 0.003, prompting the Oregon Health Authority (OHA) to collect and test the contents of 43 boxes of unopened cake mix of various brands from six retail locations. OHA sent samples to the Institute for Environmental Health Laboratories in Lake Forest Park, Washington, for pathogen testing. Salmonella Agbeni was isolated from an unopened box of white cake mix from manufacturer A, and whole genome sequencing (WGS) data describing the isolate were uploaded to the U.S. National Library of Medicine’s National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) website (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pathogensexternal icon). OHA used the NCBI database to compare sequence data with the cake mix isolate (PNUSAS056022) and then consulted CDC’s System for Enteric Disease Response, Investigation, and Coordination (SEDRIC), a web-based, outbreak investigation tool designed for collaborative, multistate investigations of enteric disease outbreaks.* On October 19, OHA determined that clinical isolates from four patients from Maryland, Ohio, and Wisconsin, with specimen isolation dates ranging from June to September 2018, were genetically related to the Salmonella Agbeni isolate from the unopened box of white cake mix, within four single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs).
On October 22, 2018, OHA notified state public health counterparts in the three states of this finding and inquired about raw cake mix exposures among their patients. The Wisconsin patient reported having consumed an entire box of raw white cake mix over several days during the likely exposure period. In addition, WGS analysis indicated that this clinical isolate was closely related genetically (within one SNP) to the isolate cultured from the Oregon white cake mix. On October 25, CDC requested officials in Maryland, Ohio, and Wisconsin to interview patients using a questionnaire with specific questions about baking exposures.
On October 31, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) initiated an investigation of manufacturer A with regard to the Salmonella-positive white cake mix. In addition to the investigation and document collection, FDA collected samples including an ingredient (flour), finished cake mix, and environmental samples. All collected samples tested negative for Salmonella. On November 5, a voluntary recall of manufacturer A’s classic white, classic butter golden, signature confetti, and classic yellow cake mixes was announced because they might be contaminated with Salmonella bacteria.
On January 14, 2019, CDC declared this outbreak, which totaled seven cases in five states,† to be over (1). This is the first time that OHA used WGS data on the publicly available NCBI website to detect a multistate outbreak associated with a widely distributed consumer product, which resulted in product action. WGS of food and environmental isolates and subsequent analysis on the NCBI and SEDRIC platforms are emerging as useful tools in identifying outbreaks associated with widely distributed products with long shelf lives and low background rates of consumption, such as raw cake mix. Detection of these outbreaks is typically difficult and relies mainly upon epidemiologic evidence from investigation of a larger number of cases (2–4). These efforts also highlight the value of collaboration between public health epidemiologists and laboratorians as well as the use of new technological tools for outbreak detection. During outbreak or cluster investigations, food and environmental samples should be collected as quickly as possible whenever practical, particularly when epidemiologic data suggest an association. WGS, in conjunction with the NCBI website and SEDRIC, can be used to identify genetically related isolates quickly.
US: Notes from the field: Multistate outbreak of salmonella Agbeni associated with consumption of raw cake mix – five states, 2018
30.aug.19
CDC
Stephen G Ladd-Wilson, Karim Morey, et al
A central Queensland professor is taking the taboo out of poo to teach children about the link between eating well and making healthy poo.
The ‘Poop it’ kit uses illustrated stories and rewards to educate four to eight-year-olds about what a healthy poo looks like.
It was developed by Professor Kerry Reid-Searl from CQUniversity, who partnered with paediatric nurses, academics, and undergraduate students.
The inspiration behind the project comes from the professor’s desire to take the embarrassment out of talking about what we flush down the toilet.
“Many people are ashamed or reluctant to talk about poo, yet there is such an important link between good health and poo,” she said.
“As a nurse I have encountered many children with bowel problems, and my understanding from the anecdotal responses from parents of these children is that the psychosocial impact can be significant.
“So this project is very much about giving children an awareness of a topic that probably fascinates them, but more importantly provides them with information that can influence their everyday being.”
What does a healthy poo look like?
It’s already a topic that gets kids giggling. But to make learning about what goes into making good and bad poo fun, the professor and her team created characters that illustrate the meaning behind the shape of the poo we make.
“There are seven different types of poos, from rabbit droppings right through to gravy-type poos, but the best healthy poo is a sausage-shaped poo where it’s like a sausage — smooth and brown.”
Personally, my family has no taboos when talking about poo or farts or burps – expected from someone who’s idea of community service is writing on barfblog.com – at least until Sorenne reaches puberty, which is soon, and then I’ll just be an embarrassment until she needs money, about 10 years later. If the 4 Canadian daughters are anything to go by (right, with my father, Jan. 2019 in Brantford) it’s a set pattern.
And it may be arriving sooner than expected. I just facetimed daughter S in Arizona where she is staying with her maternal grandmother for the night, and she blew me off after a couple of minutes to go chat with a friend in Brisbane.
Technology. Kids. Life.
The oldest parasite DNA ever recorded has been found in the ancient, desiccated faeces of a puma.
A team of Argentinian scientists from the National Council of Scientific and Technical Research (CONICET) made the discovery after studying a coprolite taken from a rock-shelter in the country’s mountainous Catamarca Province, where the remains of now extinct megafauna have previously been recovered in stratigraphic excavations.
Radiocarbon dating revealed that the coprolite and thus the parasitic roundworm eggs preserved inside dated back to between 16,570 and 17,000 years ago, towards the end of the last Ice Age.
At that time, the area around the shelter at Peñas de las Trampas in the southern Andean Puna was thought to have been wetter than today, making it a suitable habitat for megafauna like giant ground sloths, and also smaller herbivores like American horses and South American camelids which the pumas may have preyed on.
Ancient mitochondrial DNA analysis was used to confirm the coprolite came from a Puma (Puma concolor) and that the eggs belonged to Toxascaris leonina, a species of roundworm still commonly found in the digestive systems of modern day cats, dogs and foxes.
The study, published in the journal Parasitology, explains that the extremely dry, cold and salty conditions which took hold at the Peñas de las Trampas site since the onset of the Holocene would have helped to reduce the breakdown of the DNA, allowing it to be preserved.
Led by Romina Petrigh and Martín Fugassa, the study was carried out by an interdisciplinary team including archaeologists and biologists and is part of a project that views ancient faeces as important paleobiological reservoirs.
Dr Petrigh, from the National University of Mar del Plata and CONICET, said: “While we have found evidence of parasites in coprolites before, those remains were much more recent, dating back only a few thousand years. The latest find shows that these roundworms were infecting the fauna of South America before the arrival of the first humans in the area around 11,000 years ago.”
For Dr Petrigh, the findings also cast light on both the past and the present. She said: “This work confirms the presence of T. leonina in prehistoric times, presumably even before that of humans in the region, and it represents the oldest record in the world. The common interpretation is that the presence of T. leonina in American wild carnivores today is a consequence of their contact with domestic dogs or cats, but that should no longer be assumed as the only possible explanation.