Listeria found at Toronto daycare where tot died

Posted on September 20, 2013 by Douglas Powell

Public health inspectors found listeria in a chicken stew, cooked grains and deli meats at an illegal Vaughan home daycare where a toddler died in July.

Inspectors also found garbage with dirty diapers in the kitchen; expired or rotting food in the fridge and freezer; unsanitized toys; evidence of inadequate hand washing or dishwashing capacity, and other sanitation concerns in the home at 343 Yellowood Circle, according to the inspection report obtained under a Freedom of Information request.

Police noted that 14 dogs and nine children were found in a house next door to the unregulated home daycare where 2-year-old Eva Ravikovich died July 8, according to notes by York Region Public Health inspector Cameron Weighill.

Meanwhile, one family is alleging their 3 1/2-year-old daughter, who was toilet-trained, was made to wear diapers and belted into a car seat while watching TV unsupervised in the basement of the daycare. The family said their child often smelled like a dog when she came home.

The Toronto Star reports at least 35 children were registered at the daycare by the operator, who appeared to be caring for them in the two homes, York public heath officials have said.

The coroner has not yet determined a cause of death in the troubling case.

Public health officials on July 8 and 9 also found a “garlic-tomato mixture that appeared to be fermenting in the fridge . . . dried oatmeal stored under the sink with cleaners and garbage,” cheese in the freezer with a best-before date of September 2012, and deli meat in the fridge that expired on June 19.

“From the diapers in the kitchen, to the fermenting food in the fridge, it’s really quite something,” said Andrea Calver of the Ontario Coalition for Better Child Care, which made the freedom of information request for the public health report in July.

The coalition is calling on the government to license all people who provide child care in their homes.

A spokesperson for York public health said she was unable to comment on the inspector’s findings due to the ongoing investigation and litigation around the death.

The toddler’s parents, Ekaterina Evtropova and Vycheslav Ravikovich launched a $3.5 million lawsuit in August against the daycare owners and operators, as well as the education ministry. They allege that neglect and a failure to follow up on complaints about the number of kids at the daycare led to Eva’s death.

Tourists warned of the dangers of sea turtles

Posted on February 8, 2013 by Douglas Powell

Sorenne is going to a new kindy for two days a week. It seems groovy, and after the intro parent meeting they took me up on my issues and used some extra budget to buy two refrigerators for food safety reasons.

But about the turtle.

There’s a large turtle in an aquarium that attracts the childrens’ attention – and fingers.

According to research published in the RSM Short Reports, researchers found that turtles in captivity carry the risk of exposure to toxic contaminants and zoonotic pathogens – which able to move from animals to humans – such as bacteria, viruses and parasites.

The review was based on a four-year case study of the Cayman Turtle Farm in Grand Cayman, Caribbean, which attracted an estimated 1.2 million visitors.

Most of the turtles at the farm are green sea turtles.

Clifford Warwick, lead author of the report, said the conditions the turtles are kept in plays a key role in the increased risk factors.

“Significantly, the captive farming of turtles arguably increases the threat to health, in particular from bacteria, due to the practice of housing many turtles in a relatively confined space and under intensive conditions,” he said.

Warwick said the findings highlight the need for further investigation and awareness.

Norovirus: you don’t want it

Posted on November 22, 2012 by Douglas Powell

After tag teaming with Amy through the night and morning, Sorenne finally went back to sleep for a couple of hours.

And then she barfed again.

I contacted the school and they told me several kids started barfing yesterday afternoon, they put up the Warning Gastro Cases Reported on the classroom doors and went into a deep clean after the kids went home yesterday.

So maybe it wasn’t my cooking or food selections. Maybe it was norovirus.

There are dozens of norovirus outbreaks going on right now in the Northern Hemisphere as winter approaches: schools, day cares, hospitals, extended care facilities, and oil rigs.

They can happen in the Southern Hemisphere too.

I only comment on the ones that seem to involve a food vehicle (or one of my kids), like the one at the Verizon Wireless Center in Mankato, Minnesota last week.

Health types say the outbreak appears to be a norovirus, but it’s too soon to determine if the illness was spread through food at the civic center.

More than 50 people were sickened after a Greater Mankato Growth event a week ago, attended by more than 460 people. The health department also has received reports of people who contracted the illness after attending a civic center event for veterans last Wednesday.

Whatever the cause, it’s important to isolate the sick people and clean quickly and thoroughly. That’s why oil workers have been evacuated from a North Sea platform and workforce numbers reduced to a bare minimum.

Three victims have been quarantined in designated rooms in an effort to prevent the virus from spreading and infecting others on the Enquest-owned rig.

A Petrofac spokesman said, “All reasonable steps have been taken to contain the spread of the virus and support and guidance is being provided by onshore doctors and occupational health professionals including NHS Grampian’s Health Protection Team.

“As an additional precautionary measure we are reducing the number of non-essential personnel on the installation to limit further spread of the virus.”

3 hospitalized after E. coli outbreak at Tennessee daycare

Posted on April 24, 2012 by Douglas Powell

WBIR reports three children are in hospital following an E. coli O157 outbreak at a Cocke County daycare facility.

According to the Tennessee Department of Health, three juveniles, all of whom attend the same daycare facility in Newport, were diagnosed with E. coli O157 symptoms.

The source of the bacteria is currently unknown, but managers of the facility are working with investigators, and the families of all children who attend the daycare have been contacted.

State health department officials have not closed the facility, but are continuing to investigate the situation.

2011: 9 E. coli outbreaks in Irish daycare settings; Authority urges vigilance

Posted on April 24, 2012 by Douglas Powell

The Food Safety Authority of Ireland has urged childcare workers and crèche owners to ensure they have robust hygiene practices in place to reduce the incidence of E coli.

The authority has said it is concerned at the high levels of E coli infection here, with 285 cases of human infection provisionally recorded last year.

There were nine outbreaks in children attending crèches, or who were cared for in the home by childminders.

This involved some 75 children and adults becoming ill, with seven being hospitalised last year.

The FSAI says young children and infants are particularly at risk from E coli infection, and children and workers in childcare settings can unwittingly spread infection.

Washing hands is the single most important way to stop the spread of these E coli. Young children should be helped to wash and dry their hands. Babies need to have their hands washed as often as older children.

As well as handwashing, infection can be prevented by using a safe water supply and preparing food hygenically.

Staff are asked to stay away from childcare facilities for 48 hours if they have had diarrhoea or vomiting, and they should contact the Department of Public Health for advice to prevent more cases.

The FSAI has just published a leaflet – How to Protect the Children in Your Care – which is freely available on www.fsai.ie.

9 children sick; E. coli outbreak contained at Nova Scotia daycare

Posted on October 8, 2011 by Douglas Powell

CBC News reports Crystal Daycare in Dartmouth, N.S., believes it has stopped an outbreak of E. coli, but doesn’t bother to report what kind of E. coli sickened seven children and two of their siblings since the middle of August.

Dr. Gaynor Watson-Creed, the medical health officer for the capital region, said there hasn’t been a new case since last week.

"It’s the children that are the ongoing source and catching up with them and their disease can be a challenge. An outbreak like this can go on for several weeks for that reason. It’s been exhausting for the parents, it’s been exhausting for the daycare staff."

More than 90 children use the facility and public health officials say the E. coli was brought in by one of them.

2010 E. coli O26 outbreak in Oregon childcare center resulted in no severe illness

Posted on September 18, 2011 by Douglas Powell

In the first known outbreak of Escherichia coli O26 in a U.S. child care center, neither severe illness nor a secondary household transmission was reported, according to results presented during the 51st Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy.

Data on duration of Shiga-toxin-producing E. coli serotype O26 shedding are limited, but shedding can be prolonged. However, the need for separation of infected children who have this apparently low-virulence infection remains uncertain, according to Mathieu Tourdjman, MD, MPH, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Service Officer with the Oregon Health Authority.

“The study raised more questions than it answered,” Tourdjman said during his presentation. “Child care exclusion policies vary across country. Most frequently, the policy states that children infected with O157 should be excluded until at least two consecutive stool samples are negative. Because limited data on O26 are available for O26 infection, no consensus exists on whether similar exclusion should occur.”

The outbreak of E. coli O26 occurred in an Oregon child care center in October 2010. Children who attended the child care facility were aged in range from 6 weeks to 12 years. They were separated by age into six different classrooms.

According to Tourdjman, infected staff and parents of infected children provided demographic and clinical information. Secondary transmission to household members was assessed by screening stool specimens for Shiga toxin using PCR. Positive isolates were isolated and serotyped. Cases in this particular outbreak were defined as laboratory-confirmed O26 infection among attendees or staff during October 2010.

Results of the study revealed a total of 10 cases of E. coli O26: nine children (median age: 1 year) and one staff member. Patients were in three different classrooms and not clustered. Four patients reported diarrhea, including one with bloody diarrhea, but none of the patients progressed to hemolytic uremic syndrome or required hospitalization.

The findings of the investigation also revealed that duration of shedding ranged from 12 to 46 days (median 25 days), and a lack of secondary transmission to household members.

Tourdjman M. #L1-389. Duration of Shedding and Secondary Transmission of Shiga-Toxin-Producing Escherichia coli O26 During an Outbreak in a Child Care Center:: Oregon, October 2010. Presented at: 51st ICAAC. Sept. 17-20, 2011. Chicago.

Are the lunches you send to school making your kid sick?

Posted on August 8, 2011 by Douglas Powell

Sorenne has been going to full-time daycare – she doesn’t like that term so we call it school – since arriving in Australia. At 2-and-a-half years old, we knew she was getting bored with us, and needed to be hanging out with other kids.

The kids all have to wear sunhats, and high-powered sunscreen is applied liberally, not the mild stuff used in North America.

Amy’s been making a lunch every day, and I’m starting to help out. Today is was leftover spaghetti, cheese, a yoghurt (anything pre-packaged is wildly expensive, with those little yoghurts going for about $1.20 each) and apple slices. Everything is labeled Sorenne, and it goes into the fridge as soon as we arrive. Seems like a good system.

But after dealing with the tyranny and boredom of school lunches for about 12 years with the four Canadian daughters, I’m well aware of the challenges: most schools don’t have fridges for kids to use. Standard advice is to pack food with ice packs or use cooler bags, but that may not be enough.

Researchers at the University of Texas, Austin, measured the temperatures of food in bag lunches 90 minutes before children at air-conditioned Texas child-care centers were scheduled to eat them.

Ninety percent of the lunches were in insulated bags. Even so, the results were disgusting.

Less than 2 percent of the perishable items were in what the researchers deemed a safe temperature zone: less than 39.2 degrees or more than 140 degrees. Only 14 of 618 items — they focused on meats, dairy products and vegetables — in lunches with one ice pack were a safe temperature. Multiple ice packs weren’t much better: Just 5 of 61 items were safe.

Unsafe temperatures allow bacteria to grow, increasing the odds that kids will get a nasty foodborne illness, Fawaz Almansour, lead author of the new study, said.

The study, published Monday in Pediatrics, did not look at how many kids actually got sick. The important thing, Almansour said, is that their lunches put them at risk for a long list of bugs. Children younger than four are especially susceptible to foodborne illnesses.

The authors wrote, “These results indicate an urgent need for parents and childcare personnel to be educated in safe food practices.”

As usual, there were no recommendations for how this education was to magically happen.

Florida food safety inspections shift again

Posted on October 8, 2010 by Douglas Powell

Tampa Bay Online reports that changes in state laws on food safety inspections has led to mass confusion about jurisdiction, so much that health departments are now regaining powers to conduct kitchen hygiene inspections at child care facilities, at least for an interim period.

Marc Yacht, the retired former director of the Pasco County Health Department said he remains concerned about the "most vulnerable population" at nursing homes not having a regular food and hygiene inspection program.

Unintended consequences seem to have plagued the new law from the start, Yacht and other critics say.

Most Department of Children and Family inspectors have bachelor’s degrees in social sciences, but they lack the training and experience for food inspections. The Department of Health inspectors have degrees in science or health and training in food safety.

Ajax shouldn’t go in DQ shakes; windshield wiper fluid is not Kool-Aid for kids

Posted on March 13, 2009 by Douglas Powell

An employee of a Ferndale, Washington, Dairy Queen says she “accidentally” poured Ajax into the malt dispenser, sickening two customers, according to court documents.

Detectives obtained surveillance video and saw the employee, Dale, pouring the Ajax into the malt dispenser, documents said.

Meanwhile, officials at an Arkansas hospital reported Friday that 10 children drank windshield wiper fluid after a staffer at an Arkansas day care mistakenly put the liquid in a refrigerator and served it.

A hospital toxicologist said,

"All we know was that the individual at the day care had recently shopped and had come back to the day care with a lot of different products. This product was mistakenly grabbed and thought to be Kool-Aid and put in the refrigerator."

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