Tag Archives: Durham

Durham County health department looking at mobile vendors

Posted on by
Reply

Some of my favorite people are environmental health specialists. Between routine, unscheduled inspections of restaurants and institutions, many spend time working with individuals and small businesses to ensure that they make and sell food safely – and legally. According to WUNC.org, Durham County (NC) environmental health folks are looking to mobile vendors to ensure that they are inspected and are following food safety rules.

The Durham County Department of Public Health wants consumers to know if food from mobile food vendors is coming from somebody who has a permit to sell it.

Environmental Health Director Christopher Salter said the department is also working to inform vendors of food safety regulations, which bar home food prep and selling from a stand without a permit.

Salter said there are 126 mobile food units acting legally in the county. They are heavily scrutinized for healthy food preparation and storage practices. Salter said these vendors not only pose a health risk, but they undercut the businesses of food vendors who follow the legal channels.

“I know that they’re just trying to make a living, they’re trying to get by,” Salter said. “But we have the rules and regulations and what’s right and wrong, and bottom line is we have to protect the public health.”

And it’s not just the mobile vendors, as I peruse my Facebook feed and the Wake Forest Community Information page, there’s food that folks are selling out of their homes. Like cupcakes and pesto.

IMG_4853

Screen Shot 2015-07-19 at 4.24.25 PM

Update: Maybe it’s not E. coli at all. Possibly norovirus in Durham, NC

Posted on by
Reply

The ABC11 report might have been a bit of speculation, Durham County Health Department says that while the outbreak is unknown, it looks like it might be norovirus.

The outbreak is still under investigation and it appears that lots of misinformation is flying around.

Here’s last week’s food safety infosheet on norovirus.

E. coli outbreak at Durham, NC nursing home

Posted on by
Reply

Raleigh ABC 11 reports the possibility of a pathogenic E. coli outbreak at the  Emerald Pond retirement home in Durham, NC. It’s early on, when information sometimes get’s messed up, but the report says:

A spokesperson from the Durham County Health Department told Eyewitness News the department learned of at least four patients and staff members at Emerald Pond who have the bacterial illness.
Some strands (sic) of the bacteria can cause diarrhea, while others cause urinary tract infections, respiratory illness, pneumonia and other illnesses.
The initial report of E. coli cases was made over the weekend, but the Health Department is just beginning its investigation.
Emerald Pond has closed its dining room as a precaution.
The retirement home said it’s cleaning the facility and "precautions are in place."

If the outbreak does happen to be pathogenic E. coli it could get messy for elderly individuals, and is often misdiagnosed.  In a 2006 article published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, Reiss and colleagues write:

A growing pool of epidemiological surveys reveals that geriatric populations are at risk of severe manifestations of EHEC O157:H7 infections. A 5-year review of cases in Alberta, Canada, and in Scotland found that morbidity rates, defined as need for hospitalization, in those aged 60 and older were similar to or worse than those in young children. Of 703 patients requiring inpatient medical treatment in Alberta, Canada, during the study period, rates of hospitalization in persons aged 60 and older were nearly twice as high (68.9% of reported cases) as those of children younger than age 5.

Given the absence of fever, and often only the complaint of ‘‘bleeding per rectum,’’ it is not surprising that cases will be initially misdiagnosed as hemorrhoids, diverticulosis, or another source of painless lower gastrointestinal bleeding.

A review of nursing home outbreaks and epidemiological data indicate that nursing home patients are indeed at high risk for EHEC O157:H7 infection and related complications, although common perception may still place EHEC and associated HUS/TTP in the category of a pediatric infectious disease.

The mention of infected staff member(s) puts an interesting twist on things — raising the possibility that an infected food handler is involved.