KOMO News reports a salmonella outbreak has been linked to food prepared in the service deli at the Costco Wholesale Warehouse in Issaquah, and now local health officials are closely monitoring the deli to make sure it is taking steps to prevent further problems.
An investigation by Public Health Seattle & King County found that seven people who got sick between August 2017 and July 2018 all tested positive for the same strain of salmonella, suggesting a common source for the infection.
As the investigation continued, officials discovered in August that all seven people who got sick had shopped at the Costco store in Issaquah. Of those, five bought ready-to-eat food from the service deli and one was an employee at the deli – although there was no evidence that the employee was the source of the outbreak.
It could not be confirmed whether or not the seventh person had purchased food at the Costco deli. One salmonella victim had to be hospitalized, but all seven have since recovered.
The Costco service deli prepares and sells a variety of ready-to-eat foods, but it could not be determined which of those was the source of the outbreak, King County health officials said.
Joy Edwards and her boyfriend Michael Smith were surprised to come home to dog poop rubbed all over her doorknob.
“I just don’t understand who could do that. That’s disgusting,” Edwards said.
When they checked their security camera, they found out it was their neighbor Brenda Mullins. Mullins is admitting her actions.
“The dog came and messed in my yard,” Mullins said. “I picked it up and went and put it on her doorknob. You didn’t want to clean it up here. You will clean it up there.”
I had a woman call me today who said she worked with one of my former students who was with me around 2000, and she said nice things about me – I was a tough asshole but she still said nice things about me.
That’s the part I miss the most about being an ex-university professor, the students, and of course the hockey.
I do not miss faculty meetings.
I do miss Gonzo and Kate, people I worked with in the past, but nice to see them develop, and the little part I may have had in that. Chapman I don’t miss, because we talk every day ad e-mail each other about 10 times.
If Chapman gets accolades for bailing me out of jail, Gonzo gets full points for taking me to the hospital and waiting with me when I decided it might be a good idea to OD on booze when I lost my job (at the mall; I misplaced it).
Jen Sieve-Hicks of the Buffalo Bulletin, the best newspaper title I’ve heard in a long time, reports the Wyoming Department of Health has confirmed a salmonella outbreak caused by a pig or pigs at the Johnson County Fair.
After a number of Johnson County Fair participants fell ill with stomach cramps and diarrhea, the Department of Health requested stool samples from five people and was able to confirm that all five were suffering from the same type of salmonella.
According to the department’s surveillance epidemiologist Tiffany Greenlee, when two or more people get the same illness from contact with the same animal or animal environment, the event is called a zoonotic outbreak. Greenlee said the pathology reports indicate that the bacteria was transferred from animal to person via pig feces.
“Salmonella lives in animal intestines and is passed through excrement,” Greenlee said. “At fair, people are around their animals extensively – washing and feeding and grooming, and it’s pretty easy to get animal poop on your hands. We believe people got it from pig poop.”
Johnson County Fair Board President Laci Schiffer said that all animals exhibited at the fair undergo a health inspection before the opening of exhibits, and the fair has veterinarians on call the entire week of the fair should an animal appear ill.
Observation of public health risk behaviours, risk communication and hand hygiene at Kansas and Missouri petting zoos – 2010-2011. Zoonoses Public Health. 2012 Jul 30. doi: 10.1111/j.1863-2378.2012.01531.x. [Epub ahead of print]
Outbreaks of human illness have been linked to visiting settings with animal contact throughout developed countries. This paper details an observational study of hand hygiene tool availability and recommendations; frequency of risky behavior; and, handwashing attempts by visitors in Kansas (9) and Missouri (4), U.S., petting zoos.
Handwashing signs and hand hygiene stations were available at the exit of animal-contact areas in 10/13 and 8/13 petting zoos respectively. Risky behaviors were observed being performed at all petting zoos by at least one visitor. Frequently observed behaviors were: children (10/13 petting zoos) and adults (9/13 petting zoos) touching hands to face within animal-contact areas; animals licking children’s and adults’ hands (7/13 and 4/13 petting zoos, respectively); and children and adults drinking within animal-contact areas (5/13 petting zoos each). Of 574 visitors observed for hand hygiene when exiting animal-contact areas, 37% (n=214) of individuals attempted some type of hand hygiene, with male adults, female adults, and children attempting at similar rates (32%, 40%, and 37% respectively). Visitors were 4.8x more likely to wash their hands when a staff member was present within or at the exit to the animal-contact area (136/231, 59%) than when no staff member was present (78/343, 23%; p<0.001, OR=4.863, 95% C.I.=3.380-6.998). Visitors at zoos with a fence as a partial barrier to human-animal contact were 2.3x more likely to wash their hands (188/460, 40.9%) than visitors allowed to enter the animals’ yard for contact (26/114, 22.8%; p<0.001, OR= 2.339, 95% CI= 1.454-3.763). Inconsistencies existed in tool availability, signage, and supervision of animal-contact.
Risk communication was poor, with few petting zoos outlining risks associated with animal-contact, or providing recommendations for precautions to be taken to reduce these risks.
Best practices for planning events encouraging human-animal interactions
03.Apr.14
Zoonoses and Public Health DOI: 10.1111/zph.12117
G. Erdozain , K. KuKanich , B. Chapman and D. Powell
Educational events encouraging human-animal interaction include the risk of zoonotic disease transmission. It is estimated that 14% of all disease in the USA caused by Campylobacter spp., Cryptosporidium spp., Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) O157, non-O157 STECs, Listeria monocytogenes, non-typhoidal Salmonella enterica and Yersinia enterocolitica were attributable to animal contact. This article reviews best practices for organizing events where human-animal interactions are encouraged, with the objective of lowering the risk of zoonotic disease transmission.
Newport is the third most common Salmonella enterica serotype identified among the estimated 1.2 million human salmonellosis infections occurring annually in the United States.
Risk factors for infection and food items implicated in outbreaks vary by antimicrobial resistance pattern. We conducted a descriptive analysis of data from four enteric disease surveillance systems capturing information on incidence, demographics, seasonality, geographic distribution, outbreaks, and antimicrobial resistance of Newport infections over a 10-year period from 2004 through 2013. Incidence increased through 2010, then declined to rates similar to those in the early years of the study. Incidence was highest in the South and among children <5 years old. Among isolates submitted for antimicrobial susceptibility testing, 88% were susceptible to all antimicrobials tested (pansusceptible) and 8% were resistant to at least seven agents, including ceftriaxone. Rates of pansusceptible isolates were also highest in the South and among young children, particularly in 2010. Pansusceptible strains of Newport have been associated with produce items and environmental sources, such as creek water and sediment. However, the role of environmental transmission of Newport in human illness is unclear.
Efforts to reduce produce contamination through targeted legislation, as well as collaborative efforts to identify sources of contamination in agricultural regions, are underway.
Salmonella enterica serotype Newport infections in the United States, 2004-2013: Increased incidence investigated through four surveillance systems, 23 July 2018
Do not eat, sell, or serve recalled Gravel Ridge Farms cage-free large eggs.
Gravel Ridge Farms recalled packages of a dozen and 2.5 dozen eggs in cardboard containers with UPC code 7-06970-38444-6.
Recalled eggs have “best if used by” dates of July 25, 2018 through October 3, 2018.
Recalled eggs were sold in grocery stores and to restaurants in Alabama, Georgia, and Tennessee. For a full list of locations where recalled eggs were sold, visit the FDA website.
Return any Gravel Ridge Farms eggs to the store for a refund or throw them away, regardless of the “best if used by” date. Even if some eggs were eaten and no one got sick, do not eat them.
Contact a healthcare provider if you think you got sick from eating recalled Gravel Ridge Farms shell eggs.
Consumers and restaurants should always handle and cook eggs safely to avoid foodborne illness from raw eggs. It is important to handle and prepare all fresh eggs and egg products carefully.
Eggs should be cooked until both the yolk and white are firm. Scrambled eggs should not be runny. Egg dishes such as casseroles and quiches should be cooked to an internal temperature of 160°F or hotter.
Make sure that foods that contain raw or lightly cooked eggs, such as eggs over easy or hollandaise sauce, are made only with pasteurized eggs. Pasteurization kills disease-causing germs.
Wash hands and items that came into contact with raw eggs—including countertops, utensils, dishes, and cutting boards—with soap and water.
And a song dedicated to my high school girlfriend, Susie.
Elizabeth Shogren and Susie Neilson of Reveal write that William Whitt suffered violent diarrhea for days. But once he began vomiting blood, he knew it was time to rush to the hospital. His body swelled up so much that his wife thought he looked like the Michelin Man, and on the inside, his intestines were inflamed and bleeding.
For four days last spring, doctors struggled to control the infection that was ravaging Whitt, a father of three in western Idaho. The pain was excruciating, even though he was given opioid painkillers intravenously every 10 minutes for days.
His family feared they would lose him.
“I was terrified. I wouldn’t leave the hospital because I wasn’t sure he was still going to be there when I got back,” said Whitt’s wife, Melinda.
Whitt and his family were baffled: How could a healthy 37-year-old suddenly get so sick? While he was fighting for his life, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention quizzed Whitt, seeking information about what had sickened him.
Finally, the agency’s second call offered a clue: “They kept drilling me about salad,” Whitt recalled. Before he fell ill, he had eaten two salads from a pizza shop.
William Whitt and wife Melinda say it is irresponsible for the Food and Drug Administration to postpone water-testing requirements for produce growers. “People should be able to know that the food they’re buying is not going to harm them and their loved ones,” Melinda Whitt said.
The culprit turned out to be E. coli, a powerful pathogen that had contaminated romaine lettuce grown in Yuma, Arizona, and distributed nationwide. At least 210 people in 36 states were sickened. Five died and 27 suffered kidney failure. The same strain of E. coli that sickened them was detected in a Yuma canal used to irrigate some crops.
For more than a decade, it’s been clear that there’s a gaping hole in American food safety: Growers aren’t required to test their irrigation water for pathogens such as E. coli. As a result, contaminated water can end up on fruits and vegetables.
After several high-profile disease outbreaks linked to food, Congress in 2011 ordered a fix, and produce growers this year would have begun testing their water under rules crafted by the Obama administration’s Food and Drug Administration.
But six months before people were sickened by the contaminated romaine, President Donald Trump’s FDA – responding to pressure from the farm industry and Trump’s order to eliminate regulations – shelved the water-testing rules for at least four years.
Despite this deadly outbreak, the FDA has shown no sign of reconsidering its plan to postpone the rules. The agency also is considering major changes, such as allowing some produce growers to test less frequently or find alternatives to water testing to ensure the safety of their crops.
“Mystifying, isn’t it?” said Trevor Suslow, a food safety expert at the University of California, Davis. “If the risk factor associated with agricultural water use is that closely tied to contamination and outbreaks, there needs to be something now. … I can’t think of a reason to justify waiting four to six to eight years to get started.”
The deadly Yuma outbreak underscores that irrigation water is a prime source of foodborne illnesses. In some cases, the feces of livestock or wild animals flow into a creek. Then the tainted water seeps into wells or is sprayed onto produce, which is then harvested, processed and sold at stores and restaurants. Salad greens are particularly vulnerable because they often are eaten raw and can harbor bacteria when torn.
After an E. coli outbreak killed three people who ate spinach grown in California’s Salinas Valley in 2006, most California and Arizona growers of leafy greens signed agreements to voluntarily test their irrigation water.
Whitt’s lettuce would have been covered by those agreements. But his story illustrates the limits of a voluntary safety program and how lethal E. coli can be even when precautions are taken by farms and processors.
Farm groups contend that water testing is too expensive and should not apply to produce such as apples or onions, which are less likely to carry pathogens.
“I think the whole thing is an overblown attempt to exert government power over us,” said Bob Allen, a Washington state apple farmer.
While postponing the water-testing rules would save growers $12 million per year, it also would cost consumers $108 million per year in medical expenses, according to an FDA analysis.
“The Yuma outbreak does indeed emphasize the urgency of putting agricultural water standards in place, but it is important that they be the right standards, ones that both meet our public health mission and are feasible for growers to meet,” FDA spokeswoman Juli Putnam said in response to written questions.
In addition, the FDA did not sample water in a Yuma irrigation canal until seven weeks after the area’s lettuce was identified as the cause of last spring’s outbreak. And university scientists trying to learn from the outbreak say farmers have not shared water data with them as they try to figure out how it occurred and avoid future ones.
Besides growing up with Wayne Gretzky and introducing my kid to Chris and Patrick from Sloan at the University of Guelph when they came out of the men’s room, Bill Murray and L L Cool J, my only other brush with fame was when I had a beer with Samuel L. Jackson in 1996.
I was in Seattle for the International Association for Food Protection annual meeting, and Jackson was in town for a Hard Rock Café opening, which he soon tired of, came over to the bar across the street and joined myself and two females from IAFP staff.
They can be stifling, and the one benefit I have for getting fired as a university professor (because I followed a girl) is that I never have to attend another faculty meeting.
He added that the conference had exceeded his expectations and he was “still overwhelmed by the breadth and diversity of the views” he had heard.
Dr Url was speaking at the end of the four-day event in Parma, Italy, which was attended by more than 1,100 delegates from around the world and followed by another 800 via live video link.
Discussions roamed across a range of issues, from new horizons in risk assessment science to engaging and communicating with society and developing expertise for the future.
I wonder about prion diseases because I watched my grandfather degenerate from Alzheimers, and carried my suicidal grandmother into the Barrie, Ontario (that’s in Canada) hospital when I was 20 (that’s her, right, when I was a kid)
It sucked, and has scared me for 35 years.
But after years of therapy, I may be learning to deal with it.
My first book in 1997 was called Mad Cows and Mothers Milk for a reason.
A very personal reason.
A new study has shed light on the mechanisms underlying the progression of prion diseases and identified a potential target for treatment.
Prion diseases are a group of fatal neurological disorders that includes Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease and bovine spongiform encephalopathy (“mad cow disease”). They are caused by the spread of “prions”, which are altered forms of normal cellular proteins. These abnormal molecules then interact with normal proteins to promote misfolding. While we understand that this process of converting normal to abnormal protein is what causes the symptoms of prion disease (including rapidly progressive dementia, seizures and personality changes), the exact mechanism of damage to the neuronal connections in the brain and spinal cord has been poorly understood.
Researchers from Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) used a method they previously described for culturing nerve cells from the hippocampal region of the brain, and then exposing them to prions, to illustrate the damage to nerve cell connections usually seen in these diseases. They then added a number of different chemical compounds with known inhibitory effects on cellular responses to stressful stimuli, with the objective of identifying which pathways may be involved.
They found that inhibition of p38 MAPKα (an enzyme that typically responds to stress, such as ultraviolet radiation and heat shock) prevented injury to nerve connections and promoted recovery from the initial damage. Hippocampal nerve cells that had a mutation preventing normal function of p38 MAPKα were also protected, seeming to confirm the role the enzyme plays in this disease process.
David. A. Harris, MD, PhD, professor and chair of the Department of Biochemistry at Boston University School of Medicine and corresponding author of the study, sees these findings as a major breakthrough in trying to understand and treat these diseases. “Our results provide new insights into the pathogenesis of prion diseases, they uncover new drug targets for treating these diseases, and they allow us to compare prion diseases to other, more common neurodegenerative disorders like Alzheimer’s disease.”
I’m sporadic, I fall over, and it’s really fucking scary.
I’ll keep writing until I die, keep advising students, and keep doing what I can. The wife finally admitted last week, that maybe it just wasn’t the booze, that maybe it was 50 years of pucks to the head in shitty Canadian Tire plastic masks. Maybe it was four years of middle linebacker, where the coach said, the guy with the ball, go kill him, the car crash in which two people died, and the subsequent concussions, falling off my bike, when my wife says, you didn’t really recover from that last fall, you got worse.
I’m stilll there to help the kids, until I can’t be. It’s sad, but I got 3 grandsons now, so life goes on.
I love this pic, because it encapsulates everything i did with my Guelplh girls, and with Sorenne, the American girl.
An investigation by Public Health Seattle & King County found that seven people who got sick between August 2017 and July 2018 all tested positive for the same strain of salmonella, suggesting a common source for the infection.
