Tag Archives: Denmark

55 sick with salmonella from tomatoes in EU

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Denmark’s Statens Serum Institut has been investigating an outbreak caused by Salmonella Strathcona. This serotype has not previously been detected in Denmark, and it has never before been recognized as the source of an outbreak.

The outbreak included a total of 40 culture confirmed cases registered in the Danish National Laboratory Surveillance System. The cases, 24 females and 16 males, comprised children and grown-ups from all over the country. The first patient became ill on Sept. 4, 2011, and the last on Oct. 14, 2011. During the same period, 14 cases in Germany and one in Austria were reported.

Small, elongated tomatoes of the type datterino have been found to be the source of the infections. The tomatoes, deriving from a producer in southern Italy, have primarily been sold from the supermarket chain, "Rema 1000." The tomatoes are no longer available from the supermarket chain, and the outbreak has most likely now stopped.

Tomatoes have not before been recognized as the source of salmonella outbreaks in Denmark, however, the U.S. has seen several foodborne outbreaks associated with contaminated tomatoes.

E. coli O104 death toll at 5, 276 with HUS, over 600 ill, Spain complains

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German public health authority Robert Koch Institute (RKI) confirmed Friday that five people have now been killed by E. coli O104 linked to organic cucumbers from Spain.

"The Andalusian authorities are investigating to find out where the contamination comes from and when it took place," said a spokesman for the Spanish food safety agency AESA on Friday.

Spanish senior official Josep Puxeu said Germany informed the press about the disease before informing the EU, as it should have done, and that Spain has stopped cucumber deliveries while stressing there is no proof that the EHEC entered Germany through Spanish cucumbers.

There has been no report of contamination within Spain, AESA said.

Meanwhile, the outbreak is spreading across northern Europe. Health officials in Denmark and Sweden reported Friday a total of 32 confirmed cases of people afflicted by the EHEC bacterium, all of whom had previously been travelling in Germany.

Denmark’s veterinary and food products agency said Friday it had found contaminated cucumbers from Spain in the stocks of two wholesalers in the west of the country and ordered them withdrawn.
 

Denmark: Cook frozen raspberries to avoid norovirus infection

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Danish authorities are again recommending frozen raspberries be rapidly boiled before being used in smoothies, desserts and other dishes. The fruit must cook one minute.

Outbreaks of norovirus have stricken hospital staff, canteen and restaurant guests and individuals who have been eating frozen raspberries from abroad.

"Food Administration takes this situation very seriously, and that is why we now recommend the boiling of frozen raspberries both at home and businesses such as restaurants and cafeterias," says Annette Perge in the Food Agency.
 

Norovirus risk; cook frozen raspberries warns Denmark

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Persistent problems with norovirus has lead Danish authorities to recommend that frozen berries be cooked before consuming.

Food Administration recommends caterers and institutions which prepare food for children, elderly and sick, to heat treat all kinds of frozen berries. The recommendation applies only to frozen berries and not the fresh berries.

Denmark sees steep rise in listeria cases

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Twice as many people in Denmark contracted listeriosis in 2009 compared with the previous year – and noone seems to know why.

The Copenhagen Post reports the latest figures from the National Food Institute at the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) show that Denmark has the highest number of cases of the rare and potentially lethal bacterial disease (presumably within the EU).

Jens Kirk Andersen, an expert from the National Food Institute said that it is often difficult to identify the source of listeria infections because it may take anything from two days to two months before symptoms appear.
 

Campylobacter outbreak from city water in Køge, Denmark

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Don’t connect drinking water pipes to the pipe for contaminated water from the treatment plant: That’s what happened in the Danish town of Køge in 2007 when at least 120 people fell ill.

Residents are once again being asked to boil water after 45 people reported diarrhea and severe stomach cramps. Inspectors are in the process of determining the source of the present contamination.

According to Berlingske Tidende newspaper, businesses and public institutions that use water in the preparation of food are also being contacted by regional food authorities for instructions on how to deal with the current situation.

Hundreds sick as outbreaks of gastroenteritis linked to lettuce, Denmark, January 2010

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Eurosurveillance reports at least 11 linked outbreaks of gastroenteritis with a total of 260 cases have occurred in Denmark in mid January 2010. Investigations showed that the outbreaks were caused by norovirus of several genotypes and by enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli. Lettuce of the lollo bionda type grown in France was found to be the vehicle.

From 18 to 20 January 2010, a series of outbreaks of gastroenteritis were reported to Danish authorities. Outbreak investigations were initiated by the Danish food control authority in cooperation with Statens Serum Institut (SSI), the National Food Institute, the Food and Veterinary Administration as well as the medical officers and several clinical microbiological laboratories in Copenhagen. The epidemiological, microbiological and food investigation are still ongoing; here we report on the current status of the investigation of these outbreaks.

The link between lettuce and illness was discovered in the fourth week of January 2010 based on an analysis of five outbreaks. These outbreaks had been reported during week 3 to the regional food control authority, which covers the eastern part of Denmark. As of 8 February, 11 outbreaks have been included in the cluster. A further eight outbreaks in Denmark which are currently under investigation may also be associated with lettuce. Taken together, the 11 outbreaks comprised approximately 480 potentially exposed persons and approximately 260 cases with symptoms of gastroenteritis . The 11 outbreaks all took place in the eastern half of the country (on the islands of Funen and Zealand). Norovirus was initially suspected as the aetiology, but the Kaplan criteria were not fulfilled in all circumstances and attack rates were sometimes higher than expected for norovirus, indicating the possibility of the presence of more than one disease agent.
 

Over 200 sick with norovirus (Roskilde virus in Danish) linked to lettuce from France

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You can’t name a girl Sorenne. That’s what my Danish friends and colleagues told me when I asked about potential names for our daughter. Soren is too masculine in the Scandinavian world.

The Danes also can’t trust French lettuce.

Fodevarestyrelsen reports that Futura Copenhagen A/S initiated a recall of Lollo Bionda lettuce produced in France in Jan. 2010 and sold to wholesalers, restaurants and consumers in Denmark.

“There is a suspicion that the lettuce is contaminated with norovirus (Roskilde virus) and thus may be the cause of more than 200 people the past 14 days has been ill with sickness Roskilde.”
 

Salmonella outbreak in Denmark

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I have an affinity for the Danes. I spent five summers working with two Danish home builders in Ontario, who introduced me to 45% Danish Schnapps, pate and beet snacks, which Amy and I munched on our balcony yesterday, and when I go to meetings in Copenhagen, they offer beer at the 10:30 a.m. coffee break; and noon; and afternoon coffee (beer).

My friend John the carpenter who fought in WW II (last name Kierkegaard, like the philosopher, Soren, baby Sorenne, get it?) would also have his morning, noon and afternoon beers in Ontario, but would at least admit, “The work, after some beers, it’s not so great when looked at the next day.”

This morning, Denmark is admitting it may have some problems with Salmonella.

The National Food Directorate says that 40 people have contracted Salmonella Enteritidis since May, probably as a result of fried eggs or raw eggs that have not been heated properly.

In several cases, the eggs have been traced back to the Møllebjerggård Ægpakkeri egg packaging plant and a producer that delivers eggs to the plant has been put under observation.

The Directorate has ordered eggs from the producer in question to be withdrawn from the market.
 

Could credit card receipts save children’s lives?

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The Norwegian Institute of Public Health has confirmed a genetic match for an infection of E. coli O157 among three children who developed hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) this year.

The Institute reported this week,

“The first child became ill in January, the second in February and the third in March. In addition, a sibling of one of the children has also developed HUS, but it has not yet been confirmed whether this is the same bacterial strain.”

One of the four children—all of which are under the age of ten—has died.

The source of the outbreak has yet to be determined. County food safety officials are currently questioning the families of victims on the children’s meals and testing leftover food, while federal officials are seeking information on any further possible cases (i.e. persons, and particularly children, with bloody diarrhea who test positive for enterohemorrhagic E. coli).

I wonder if they’ve looked into the families’ grocery store receipts?

A peer-reviewed article in the April 15 issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases reports that the source of a 2007 outbreak of E. coli in Denmark was found using credit card information.

Investigators had struggled to determine the source of a strain of E. coli O26 that infected 20 Danish children between February and May of 2007.

Flesh and Stone reports that when interviews failed to yield any likely suspect foods, investigators turned to shopping lists.

“Parents in seven families provided their credit card information and a list of supermarkets where they had shopped. The two supermarket chains that the parents had used most often agreed to help with the investigation. The stores searched their central computers for the precise amount paid and the date and the location of the shop.

“From there, investigators determined that five families had purchased the same brand of fermented, organic beef sausage. A sixth family was linked to the same sausage brand through shopping records provided by the kindergarten attended by two children who became infected with the same E. coli strain, STEC O26. An unopened sample of the sausage also tested positive for the strain.”

Authors of the CID article acknowledged that relying on memory to identify similarities among the diets of outbreak victims diets is often unsuccessful and found credit card information to be “a strong tool in the [current] investigation.”

Investigation of a similar outbreak of E. coli O157 in Iceland successfully used the same method some months later. It could be worth a try for Norway.