Vets have the best drugs: Minneapolis investigates police use of ketamine on suspects

Posted on July 3, 2018 by Douglas Powell

The veterinarian’s choice of drug – the horse sedative, ketamine – has been used by Minnesota police types to sedate people in custody, according to NPR.

I was married to a vet for 16 years and she had lots of tales about ketamine, but no evidence she used it herself, but I’ve met a few vets in rehab, and they liked their ketamine.

Ketamine, a powerful sedative is used in hospitals as an anesthetic and more recently, to treat depression. It’s also been called the date-rape drug. And now, city investigators in Minneapolis have found that police officers there directed paramedics to inject the drug into people on the street to subdue them. This, according to a draft report that was obtained by the Star Tribune. Andy Mannix is the reporter at the Star Tribune who broke the story, and he’s with us now. Andy Mannix, welcome. Thanks so much for speaking to us

MARTIN: What did we find from this report? I mean, for example, how do we know that the police were directing the paramedics to use the powerful sedative? And were there some other patterns that emerged when they reviewed all this information?

MANNIX: One of the issues that’s been alarming to a lot of people is just like how casually police and paramedics talk about this drug. So, we have one example where there’s a person who’s sort of being combative. The police officer is talking about ketamine. Give him a shot of ketamine – stuff like that. And then they give him two shots and then the guy sort of starts coming out of it and so they give him another shot. And the police officer – he says, he just hit the K-hole. So, they’re talking about in a way that’s almost like joking about it. There’s other examples of people saying, you know, calling a paramedic and saying bring ketamine, bring ketamine.

MARTIN: So tell us, who was being injected with this drug and what happened to them?

MANNIX: So most of the time they are – they’re calls dealing with someone who may be intoxicated or in a mental health crisis, you know, sort of like a minor nuisance crime – if a crime has been committed. So, in terms of what happens to these people, almost all of them – actually I think all of them get taken to the hospital.

MARTIN: The reports suggest that there was a large increase in the use of ketamine in recent years. There were reported of 3 incidents in 2012 and then there were 62 last year. Does the report offer any insight into why?

MANNIX: We have, in interviews with medical staff, asked that question many times and they say that there are more – there’s been a record amount of incidents involving severely agitated people. Paramedics and doctors would say that’s when someone is so agitated that they may hurt themselves or hurt somebody else. So they’re saying they’re running into more examples of this kind of behavior on the street.

MARTIN: On the other hand, though, the county hospital where the EMTs work was conducting studies on ketamine. The question arises, were they being sort of pressured?

MANNIX: You know, the scope of the oversight report is mostly police, but they do touch on this a little bit. There’s one case in particular where someone, you know, being recorded on police body camera asks why they sedated somebody and the paramedic talks about the study and says well, you know, we’re doing this study and so we needed to give them ketamine. There was one woman we talked to who had relapsed on alcohol and she was in her apartment and her sponsor, an AA, called and said can you just do a welfare check on my friend. I just want to make sure she’s OK. They ended up coming into her apartment – said she didn’t want this drug, they gave it to her anyway.

She wakes up 24 hours later with a breathing tube down her throat. And then on her way out, they hand her this form that says, by the way, you know, you’re enrolled in this study. And that’s pretty common, that’s a pretty typical story. There are several investigations going on right now including one with former acting U.S. Attorney General Sally Yates. She’s been appointed by the mayor, here, to come in and do an independent investigation. So obviously they’re very concerned.

MARTIN: That’s Andy Mannix. He’s a reporter at the Star Tribune in Minneapolis. Andy, thanks so much for speaking to us.

MANNIX: Hey, thanks for having me.

Defense matters

Posted on July 3, 2018 by Douglas Powell

The head coach of the Australian state of Queensland , a fellow Canadian, told us parents and coaches earlier this year, anyone can play defense, it’s easy, offense is hard.

I disagree.

But that’s just my opinion.

Defense wins Stanley Cups and Super Bowls.

Defense takes discipline.

Defense is hard.

I played four years as a linebacker in football and would crush anybody who tried to cross the line.

Any food company knows this, because they do not want to be tomorrow’s headline, just because someone messed up.

This is a picture of my daughter playing defense in practice (thanks Julie). Look at how the goalie is ideally placed, with his foot up against the post and his stick outside the post. Look at the angling Sorenne is using on her teammate.

Those are boring things but they win games.

And help people not barf from food.

This is Sorenne protecting the blue-line last week (thanks again, Julie).

Defense matters.

Sometimes if you’re nice to grad students, they are nice back – Chapman edition

Posted on July 3, 2018 by Douglas Powell

Chapman bailed me out of jail on a bogus charge, and all grad students should go through the hell that must feel like: Oh, and because you’ve got a key, I can find a bright kid to pick the lock. It’s the basis of cryptography.

So me and Chapman and this student had a chat this morning about how she wants to do more work for us over the summer.

Don’t know if she’ll work out, I always figured the kids are moldable until about 5, after that it’s a crap shoot (mine have all turned out exceedingly well, despite their despicable parents).

For the first year Chapman worked in my lab, I didn’t know he existed, and now he’s the golden ginger boy of food safety.

The university may shut this idea down, so wat?

I always thought being a uni prof was to come up with novel ideas and be at home while raising kids.

Now it’s lotsa talk about research excellence, while spending your time on bureaucrat bullshit.

If I had to spend another weekly faculty meeting with 30 or more profs making 6 figures arguing the merits of a 25K per year admin type , I wouldn’t go postal, I’d turn the gun on myself.

I’m still an optimist, despite all my bullshit negativity to the contrary, and will always be there for a student, or anyone else who wants to learn.

Well played, Chapman.

Petting zoos as a source of shiga-toxin producing E. coli in Austria

Posted on July 1, 2018 by Douglas Powell

Hey Gonzo, they cited us.

Too bad your soccer teams suck, and I don’t care.

But I do care when others cite the gumshoe work we put into our research activities.

And I especially care when every year, I tell our public school or the local shopping mall that petting farms around kids can lead to heartache.

They call me crazy, just like they continue to top salads with raw alfalfa sprouts at Brisbane Private Hospital, despite my protestations.

I do what I can.

These others are microbiological idiots.

There, I’m done.

Despite their general low incidence, Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia (E.) coli (STEC) infections are considered an important public health issue due to the severity of illness that can develop, particularly in young children.

We report on two Austrian petting zoos, one in Tyrol (2015) and one in Vorarlberg (2016), which were identified as highly likely infection sources of STEC infections. The petting zoo related cases involved a case of hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) due to STEC O157:HNM in 2015 and an outbreak of STEC O157:H7 infections affecting five young children and two adults in 2016. The HUS case accounted for 2.8% of the 36 STEC O157:HNM/H7 infections notified in Austria in 2015 (5,9% of 17 HUS cases). The seven cases described for 2016 accounted for 4.0% of the 177 human STEC infections documented for Austria in 2016, and for 19% of the 36 STEC O157:HNM/H7 infections notified that year.

The evaluation of the STEC infections described here clearly underlines the potential of sequence-based typing methods to offer suitable resolutions for public health applications. Furthermore, we give a state-of-the-art mini-review on the risks of petting zoos concerning exposure to the zoonotic hazard STEC and on proper measures of risk-prevention.

A table of petting zoo outbreaks is available at https://www.barfblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Petting-Zoo-Outbreaks-Table-7-26-17.xlsx

Erdozain G, Kukanich K, Chapman B, Powell D. 2012. 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.

Petting zoos as sources of shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) infections

27.june.18

International Journal of Medical Microbiology, DOI: 10.1016/j.ijmm.2018.06.008

Sabine Schlager, Sarah Lepuschitz, Werner Ruppitsch, Oksana Ableitner, Ariane Pietzka, Sabine Neubauer, Anna Stöger, Heimo Lassnig, Claudia Mikula, Burkhard Springer, Franz Allerberger
http://www.x-mol.com/paper/721663

Canada Day and Fourth of July food safety fun

Posted on July 1, 2018 by Ben Chapman

Today is my ninth Canada Day in Raleigh.

In previous years we’ve sought out Canadian beers; found the best poutine in town; skated with the Canadian club of the triangle; and curled.

This year is a bit lower-key: I’m hanging out in the backyard, watching Don Cherry talk about the opening day of free agent signings in the NHL (right, exactly as shown).

As I get a bit older I think more about what I miss about Canada, what I don’t, what it means to me to be Canadian and why I choose to live in the U.S.. There are lots of similarities and differences between the two countries.

Some stuff is easy to explain, others, like an emotional connection to The Tragically Hip and Jr. hockey, is a bit tougher.

The combination of Canada Day and July 4th (just a couple of days apart) is one of my favorite times of year. The traditional signal of summer vacation season in both countries and – and a bunch of cookouts, grillouts, bbqs, or whatever you want to call it.

The seasonal lede is also often used for talking food safety.

Cooking a bunch of hot dogs and hamburgers, folks coming to a backyard party or hanging out around the pool is something that many can identify, north and south of the 49th parallel.

The preliminary results of some work that I was part of is making the rounds this weekend with the grilling hook, which is kinda cool. Over the past 18 months a team of us planned and carried out a series of observations in kitchen settings asking regular people to come in, cook a couple of turkey burgers, prepare a salad and some salad dressing in front of a series of cameras while students and staff coded what took place – stuff handwashing, thermometer use, cross-contamination.

The project was built on concepts that were developed more than a decade ago when I visited the a creative food safety group in Cardiff, Wales (then UWIC, now Cardiff Met) who were all about observations. Following that trip, Sarah DeDonder, Brae Surgeoner, Randy Phebus, Doug and I adapted the approach to look at handling of frozen chicken entrées.

I’ll wait for a couple of weeks until some of this work is presented at the 2018 International Association for Food Protection annual meeting to share more results- and publication for all the fun details, but here’s some good highlights from USDA.

“As a mother of three young children, I am very familiar with the mad dash families go through to put dinner on the table,” said Carmen Rottenberg, Acting Deputy Under Secretary for Food Safety at USDA. “You can’t see, smell or feel bacteria. By simply washing your hands properly, you can protect your family and prevent that bacteria from contaminating your food and key areas in your kitchen.”
The preliminary results of the observational study, conducted by USDA in collaboration with RTI International and North Carolina State University, showed some concerning results.
* Handwashing: the study revealed that consumers are not washing their hands correctly 97 percent of the time.
* Most consumers failed to wash their hands for the necessary 20 seconds, and
* Numerous participants did not dry their hands with a clean towel.

* Thermometer use: results reveal that only 34 percent of participants used a food thermometer to check that their burgers were cooked properly.
* Of those who did use the food thermometer, nearly half still did not cook the burgers to the safe minimum internal temperature.

* Cross contamination: the study showed participants spreading bacteria from raw poultry onto other surfaces and food items in the test kitchen.
* 48 percent of the time are contaminating spice containers used while preparing burgers,
* 11 percent of the time are spreading bacteria to refrigerator handles, and
* 5 percent of the time are tainting salads due to cross-contamination.

Things that are cool about Canada on this Canada Day (and it ain’t us)

Posted on July 1, 2018 by Douglas Powell

Wayne Gretzky

Neil Young

Dan Ackroyd

Phil Hartman

Robbie Robertson

Alexander Graham Bell

SCTV

Lorne Michaels

Kids in the Hall

Blue Rodeo

Leslie Neilson

Tragically Hip

Frederick Banting

Sloan

Massey-Ferguson

Manners

Hockey (the ice kind, and the girls kind)

And the warmth and understanding for an 18-year-old who killed two other guys in a 1981 car crash.

I’d rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy’ Tom Waits on Fernwood2Night

Posted on July 1, 2018 by Douglas Powell

Yes, the joke was borrowed from National Lampoon, and I’m old enough to remember both, but when Tom Waits says it, wow.

Fernwood Tonight was one of those weird late-night 70’s shows that bored teenagers like me would stay up and watch, along with SCTV.

It made stars out of Martin Mull and Fred Willard, and the material still holds up.

Here’s Tom Waits signing, The Piano has been Drinking.

Salmonella in German eggs

Posted on July 1, 2018 by Douglas Powell

According to information on a German Government-run site, a batch of organic eggs has been found to have been infected with Salmonella enteritidis.

The recall affects 11 German states and comes after thousands of Dutch eggs were recalled in Germany because of renewed fipronil contamination.

Some 73,000 Dutch eggs were withdrawn from sale in Germany after more fipronil contamination was found in eggs from the Netherlands – a year after the original scandal.

Fipronil has been found on two Dutch farms in the latest scare and the authorities expect that it will be confirmed on a third.

According to the German Government site, the salmonella contamination has affected the states of Baden-Wurttemburg, Bavaria, Berlin, Brandenburg, Bremen, Hamburg, Hesse, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia, Saxony and Schleswig-Holstein. The infections were reportedly discovered during a routine testing procedure.

The infected organic eggs were stocked by several major German retailers, including Penny, Kaufland, Aldi Nord, Aldi Sued, Real, Lidl and Netto.