Tag Archives: Death

Swedish two-year-old dies from E.coli

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A two-year-old girl from Stockholm has died after becoming infected with the EHEC bacteria.

The girl fell ill during a visit to Mora in central Sweden last Sunday. She died a few days later. The source of the infection is not yet known.

Enterohaemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC) is an intestinal bacterium primarily found in the saliva and bodily waste of cattle, sheep and goats but infections can also be transmitted from person to person and via food.

The Swedish Institute for Infectious Disease Control (Smittskyddsinstitutet) said it had received around 100 reports of EHEC infections so far this year, which it said was a normal figure. Infections are most common during the summer.

The last time a person died in Sweden after being infected with the bacteria was in 2005. That too was an isolated case that did not result in an epidemic, said Smittskyddsinstitutet in a statement.

Train quarantined south of Timmins, Ontario

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A VIA train bound for Toronto with more than 260 passengers aboard has been stopped north of Timmins after one person died and five other people became ill with flu-like symptoms.

Ontario Provincial Police emergency workers with full protective gear were called to the train and about 10 people have been taken to hospital in Timmins. The rest of the passengers on the train have been quarantined.

The train originated in Jasper, Alberta.

 And in a good use of technology, the Toronto Star says,

Are you on the train or know someone who is? Call us a 1-800-268-9756.


Two dead from listeria in Massachusetts

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State health officials warned consumers not to drink milk products from Whittier Farms in Shrewsbury, Mass. after two people died after consuming products contaminated with listeria bacteria.

The Department of Public Health has identified four cases of the listerioris. 2 of the victims have died. The cases occurred in June, October and two in November. The four cases involved three elderly residents and a pregnant woman from Worcester county.

DNA fingerprinting conducted by the State Laboratory Institute showed that the bacteria causing these infections came from a common source.

Whittier Farms has agreed to suspend operations and distribution until a source of contamination is identified.

Brand names produced at Whittier Dairy include Whittier, Schultz, Balance Rock, Spring Brook, and Maple.

Pet turtles can kill

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MyFox Orlando interviewed Julie and William Godwin, the parents of three-week-old Shanna Godwin (below), who was killed by Salmonella Pomona in Feb. 2007. The same Salmonella Pomona was found in a pet turtle in the home.

William Godwin was quoted as saying,

"I felt really bad because I brought them home. I would have never brought them home if I would have known that, she didn’t have a chance."

The Godwin’s said their friends bought the turtles at a flea market. And while they’ve hired a lawyer to help with their complaint against that flea market, Julie says this is not about a legal claim, it’s about getting the word out to all parents.

“I think parents should know that they can make your kids sick and are deadly," she said. ”They should know before they bring them home.”

Since 1975 the sale of turtles with a shell less than 4 inches long is illegal. They can only be sold for scientific, educational or exhibition purposes.

E. coli O157:H7 deadly again

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14-year-old Kayla Boner of Monroe, Iowa, died last week from E. coli and kidney failure.

Boner’s parents, Rick and Dana Boner, told KCCI that when their daughter first got sick, they thought she had the flu.  But after two days, she wasn’t getting any better

Dana and Rick Boner say it’s hard to move forward without knowing what caused their daughter’s infection.  They can’t help but wonder about recent frozen pizza recalls because of E. Coli contamination.

"They have taken some of our Totino’s pizza rolls to test at the labs," Dana Boner said.  "She had pizzas but there’s none left so there’s nothing to test."

Deaths are a sobering reminder that food safety is not simple. Our condolences to the family.

20-month-old dies after being infected with E. coli

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Several media outlets are reporting that 20-month-old Jaycee Burgin, of Newport, Tenn., died just before 11:00 p.m. Tuesday at the University of Tennessee Medical Center due to an E. coli infection. She was diagnosed with the infection on October 9.

Officials with the East Tennessee Regional Health Department said Wednesday the source of Jaycee’s infection has not been confirmed.

Her family says Jaycee had a little bit of hamburger meat the Saturday before she got sick but they don’t know if that was the cause of her infection.

Since no other E. coli infections have been reported recently in Cocke County, health officials say they think the cases will be limited to Burgin’s.

Officials also say Burgin’s case was not related to three cases of children’s E. coli infections being treated in Knoxville, which have been linked to recalled meat produced by Minneapolis-based Cargill.

Deaths are a sobering reminder that food safety is not simple. Our condolences to the family.

It’s OK, no one died, says PR-type

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In a bizarrely inaccurate statement, Owen Roberts, a public relations-type for the University of Guelph in Canada, wrote in the local paper on Monday after his latest junket to a conference for agricultural journalists in Japan that,

"The Japanese government is trying to solve the food safety and self-sufficiency problems in one clean sweep by convincing consumers that the only safe food product is locally grown. Unfortunately they’ve experienced a few hiccups along the way — an E. coli outbreak in 1996, a foot and mouth problem in 2000, BSE in 2001, and an "inappropriate" food labelling problem in 2002.

"Even so, nobody in Japan ever died from any of these scares. So why are the Japanese so paranoid?"

Huh?

In the summer of 1996, over 9,500 Japanese, largely schoolchildren, were stricken with E. coli O157:H7 and 12 were killed, most likely linked to the consumption of raw radish sprouts.

In July, 2000, an outbreak of Staphylococcus aureu in Snow Brand milk sickened 14,700 after workers failed to clean factory pipes for weeks.

In Aug. 2002, five elderly patients died from E. coli O157:H7 linked to food served at a nursing home.

There have been dozens of other outbreaks of foodborne illness  in Japan — and in every other country — involving not only death but countless untold illnesses. Healthy skepticism seems warranted. Especially of PR-types.

Outrage

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Sharon Mills, the mother of five-year-old Mason Jones, said she will campaign for a change in the law after William John Tudor, the butcher who caused the Wales E. coli O157 outbreak that killed Mason, was jailed for 12 months, adding it "sends a strong message that a change in the law is needed."

Mills told Western Mail that the jail term was a “joke”, adding,

“Mason was a five-year-old with the rest of his life ahead of him. This person will spend just six months behind bars. It seems the law is a joke.”

Mills told the South Wales Echo that,

“What Mason went through was horrific and six months is a joke really. Six months is just not enough for what he did. William Tudor will be back with his family in six months’ time. Mason will never return to ours.”

Despite working as a butcher since he was 16 and completing an advanced food hygiene course, the presiding judge said that Tudor had a “careless and make-do approach” towards food safety and cleanliness at his factory.

Tudor, 55, allowed cooked ham, turkey and lamb, which he supplied to schools across the South Wales valleys, to become contaminated with E. coli at his factory, specifically a vacuum-packaging machine which was used for both cooked and raw meats.

A prosecuting lawyer said, "In the defendant’s own words, it was not uncommon for pieces of raw meat to get into the chamber of the vacuum packer."

At one time Tudor had two of these machines, which can cost from as little as £1,300, but one was not replaced when it broke.

When inspectors visited the factory on September 19, after the E.coli outbreak had been declared, they found congealed blood, dead insects and cobwebs in the machine.