Outbreak News Today reports the Sweden Public Health Authority, or Folkhälsomyndigheten are reporting an outbreak of hepatitis A where the suspected source of infection is fresh dates from Iran.
Of the nine cases reported since late February, eight of the cases are confirmed and have the same type of hepatitis A virus (genotype IIIA) and one case is suspected.
The cases are between the ages of 28 and 73, five are men and four are women. The cases are from seven different counties (Örebro, Stockholm, Uppsala, Skåne, Södermanland, Kalmar and Halland). The latest case fell on April 16. Common to the cases is that they regularly eat fresh dates.
In the eight confirmed cases, four different strains with genotype IIIA have been detected. Two of these are similar to the tribes that caused an outbreak in Denmark in 2018 linked to dates from Iran. In that outbreak, several variants of genotype IIIA strains could be detected in the cases. One of these outbreak strains could also be detected in dates.
Health officials continue the investigation to identify the source of the outbreak.
Chapman and I have been talking about creativity lately, and how to get better at it.
It may not be apparent, but for 20 years now, we always try to get better.
He quoted me Neil Young this morning, who said in 1974, “’Heart of Gold’ put me in the middle of the road. Traveling there soon became a bore so I headed for the ditch. A rougher ride, but I saw more interesting people there.”
I said the the same thing to Bill Leiss when he wanted to rehash a book: been there, done that, you’re boring.
Well done Ben.
Discovering, by Robert Scott Root-Bernstein, a prof type at the University of Michigan, was one of the most influential books I read. So much so that I had him come to the University of Waterloo when I hosted the annual meeting of the Canadian Science writer types in 1992.
Whether I’ve done journalism or science (and I still get cited every day, sorta proud of that, even with my diminished mind), or just writing to keep the cobwebs out of my brain, it’s all about asking questions that others haven’t, and then telling a good story.
Barry is probably the best new show on TV (after John Oliver).
An Oklahoma dude who wowed audiences with his Stefon character on Saturday Night Live, who knew he could come up with Barry, a deep, disturbing and funny role that he writes, stars in and directs (committees are overrated).
But what this food safety nerd got in episode 4 of the second season was not the tension between the actors, but the A restaurant inspection grade in Los Angeles.
Ryan Miller of USA Today reports a Mongolian couple died from the bubonic plague after eating raw marmot meat, sparking a quarantine that trapped tourists for days, officials said Monday.
According to AFP, the couple died May 1 in a remote area of the country’s Bayan-Ölgii province, which borders China and Russia.
A six-day quarantine of 118 people who had come in contact with the couple, including locals and a number of foreign tourists, had been lifted as of Tuesday, Ariuntuya Ochirpurev, a World Health Organization official, told the BBC.
Ochirpurev told BBC that the couple ate the rodent’s raw meat and kidney, which is believed to be good for health in the area.
“After the quarantine (was announced) not many people, even locals, were in the streets for fear of catching the disease,” Sebastian Pique, an American Peace Corps volunteer in the area, told AFP.
The first words I wrote for barfblog.com in 2005 as me and Chapman went on a road trip to escape my ex-girlfriend stalker were something about my mother trying to kill me through foodborne illness.
She didn’t like that, and I knew my kindergarten teacher mom had nothing but best intents, but with food safety, who knows.
I’d like to make clear that my mother never intentionally poisoned any of her students.
But, a kindergarten teacher in China did, sending 23 pupils to hospital in early April after a teacher allegedly poisoned their morning porridge.
The incident in Jiaozuo came just before a new regulation took effect Monday, requiring school officials from kindergartens to secondary schools in China to dine with their students to prevent food safety scandals.
The pupils began vomiting and fainting after breakfast, the Beijing News said, citing unnamed city officials.
One parent told the newspaper that he rushed to the hospital after receiving a call from the school to find doctors had already pumped his child’s stomach to prevent high levels of toxicity in his blood.
One child remains in hospital with “severe” symptoms, and seven others have been held for observation, Xinhua reported.
The reports did not specify the ages of those affected, but typically, kindergarten students in China are aged three to six.
A preliminary investigation has revealed that sodium nitrite, which is used for curing meats but can be toxic when ingested in high amounts, caused the poisoning, Xinhua said.
When Chapman and I started barfblog.com on an airplane flight in 2005 (name credit goes to former student Christian), we thought it would last a couple of years.
It was supposed to be a mix of the personal, the pop, and evidence-based research.
I’ve quit many times, because, that’s what I do, but with my brain going, writing is about the only thing to keep me sane.
Amy told me to start a separate blog, dougsdeadflowers.com, and write whatever I want, but barfblog.com has become part of me for the past almost 20 years.
And then yesterday I saw a get-well message from a Canadian public health inspector who said, “you are our hero.”
Sure, I’m that vain.
I’m confused, and my brain ain’t working, so in the name of transparency, I throw it to my readers who have been there for 26 years:
should I stop writing
should I focus my available energy on a book
should I have a separate blog for personal stuff (which means barfblog.com would die, because Chapman is not a writer)
should I mix personal stuff in with the food safety stuff, or is that too narcissistic?
My inclination is to follow my Welsh roots and not go gentle into that good night, but that is hard on those I love.
And this is why Australian retailers should stop selling half-cut cantaloupe-rockmelons and others.
As soon as melons are cut, bacteria go to town.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), along with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and state and local partners, is investigating a multistate outbreak of Salmonella Carrau illnesses linked to pre-cut melon products. These products contain cantaloupe, honeydew, or watermelon, or may be mixes of some or all of these melons and other pre-cut fruit.
Caito Foods, LLC, of Indianapolis, Ind., has recalled products containing pre-cut melons because they are potentially contaminated with Salmonella. Additionally, Caito Foods, LLC has temporarily suspended producing and distributing these products.
FDA worked with CDC and state partners to trace the distribution of pre-cut melon mixes from individual case patients back to Caito Foods, LLC. FDA is also continuing its traceback investigation to identify the specific source of these melons. Salmonella Carrau is a rare type of Salmonella but has been historically seen in imported melons. Reports from Caito Foods LLC indicate that imported melons were used in the suspect pre-cut melon mixes. FDA’s traceback investigation is examining shipping records to try to determine a country and if possible, a farm of origin for the melons.
FDA and Indiana authorities are currently inspecting and investigating, to include collecting samples for laboratory analysis, at the Caito Foods LLC processing facility where these melons were cut and packed.
Caito Foods, LLC was linked to a similar outbreak in 2018 involving Salmonella Adelaide in pre-cut melon products.
I do not buy stuff from the deli-counter. I buy stuff that is pre-packaged and may contain antimicrobials, depending on what country you are in.
It’s all about the slicers, whether it’s the little ones at the deli counter or the huge industrial ones in food facilities – I’m looking at you Maple Leaf, source of 23 dead in 2008 in Canada – and how hard they are to properly clean.
Should deli meats be served in hospitals or aged care facilities where the immunocompromised abound?
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control reports a total of 8 people infected with the outbreak strain of Listeria monocytogenes have been reported from 4 states.
All 8 people have been hospitalized, and one death has been reported from Michigan.
Epidemiologic and laboratory evidence indicates that meats and cheeses sliced at deli counters might be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes and could make people sick.
In interviews, ill people report eating different types and brands of products, including meats and cheeses, purchased from and sliced at deli counters in many different retail locations.
The outbreak strain has been identified in samples taken from meat sliced at a deli and from deli counters in multiple stores.
A single, common supplier of deli products has not been identified.
CDC is not advising that consumers avoid eating products prepared at delis, or that retailers stop selling deli-sliced products.
This outbreak is a reminder that people at higher risk for severe Listeria infection should handle deli-sliced meats and cheeses carefully to prevent illness. Pregnant women and their newborns, adults age 65 and older, and people with weakened immune systems are more likely to get sick with listeriosis.
People who are at higher risk for Listeria infection should avoid eating lunch meats, cold cuts, or other deli meats, unless they are heated to an internal temperature of 165°F or until steaming hot just before serving.
If you develop symptoms of a Listeria infection after eating deli-sliced products, contact a healthcare provider and tell them you ate deli-sliced products. This is especially important if you are pregnant, age 65 or older, or have a weakened immune system.
If you have eaten deli-sliced products and do not have any symptoms of a Listeria infection, most experts believe that tests or treatment are not needed, even for people who have a higher chance of Listeria infection.
Listeria bacteria can survive at very low temperatures and can spread easily to other foods and surfaces. Consumers should clean refrigerators, kitchen countertops, utensils, and other surfaces that touch deli-sliced products.
Tony’s still wearing the same shitty equipment I was wearing playing pick-up in Guelph in the early 2000s.
And that mask. I try to describe what goalie masks were like when I started playing in 1967, and the best description I can come up with is, they were plastic Halloween masks; at least Tony’s had some wire on it.
He also used to cover his body in Vaseline so the pucks would hurt less.
He still holds the record for single season shutouts, set in 1970.
I have an autographed picture of Tony tucked away somewhere.
Not bad for a couple of boys from the Sault (Ste. Marie).
Tony’s taken a lot of pucks to the head; so have I.
Tony seems fine, me not so much.
Today I (almost) finalized the paperwork to donate my brain to the Sports Brain Bank in Sydney upon my death. They’re affiliated with the U.S. branch and do research on chronic traumatic encephalopathy (see the movie Concussion). They’ve asked us to post a picture with our brain donor card.
Awareness of concussions and how special our brains are has come a long way since 1967, but there is still much that is unknown.
Mushrooms are a much better psychedelic, but I only did them once.,
I had a colleague in the early 1990s who would tell me when he retired, he would sit at a cottage with a couple of Marshall amps, his electric guitar and do a bunch of hallucinogens.
Not sure that worked out.
According to Tom Ozimek of The Epoch Times, authorities are investigating the case of an Enterprise Rent-A-Car employee accused of slipping LSD into his co-workers’ water bottles.
A 19-year-old man is in custody in connection with the incident, which allegedly took place at an Enterprise Rent-A-Car location in Arnold, Missouri, last Thursday, March 21, according to KMOV.
Arnold Police received a call from the Enterprise manager, who reported that two employees, a 24-year-old woman and a 23-year-old man, had both been hospitalized after they began to feel “weird and dizzy,” according to the Jefferson County Leader.
Police say the man told them his coworkers at Enterprise Rent-A-Car had “negative energy,” and he wanted them to mellow out. So the 19-year-old put LSD in three people’s water bottles and coffee cups.
Messing around with people’s food or beverages is never OK.
The traditional oyster-tasting feast in March has been canceled and fears are mounting of huge financial losses to the local community that harvests about 3 million oysters each year.
Experts are pointing their fingers at the outdated sewage system in the area that has seen a rise in the numbers of tourists flocking to Croatia’s stunning Adriatic coast.
“I am really sorry but people themselves are to blame that something like this happened,” explained Vlado Onofri from the Institute for Marine and Coastal Research in nearby Dubrovnik. “It’s something that has to be solved in the future.”
While some stomach bugs can be eliminated with cooking, norovirus survives at relatively high temperatures.
Navigating the oyster fields in their small boats, the farmers proudly show visitors rows and rows of oyster-filled underwater farm beds spreading through the bay.
Top municipal official Vedran Antunica questioned the assumption that the local sewage system was to blame for the outbreak.
“Viruses are everywhere, now as we speak, the air is full of viruses,” Antunica said. “We had the same sewage system in the past, so why wasn’t it (norovirus) recorded? What has changed?”
Do not bring raw anything into a hospital full of immunocompromised people (those NZ mussels are cooked).
And I’m still looking at you, Brisbane Private Hospital, for continuing to serve raw sprouts on everything.
The Bailiwick Express reports that an outbreak of the winter vomiting bug (we call it Norovirus) which forced hospital bosses to ban visitors from wards was caused by someone bringing mussels in for a patient, it has emerged.
Over Christmas, Northumbria Healthcare NHS Trust will partially lift the restriction on visitors, introduced after norovirus spread across a number of sites.
Officials have traced its spread to a visitor bringing in mussels for an inpatient at Wansbeck General Hospital in Ashington, Northumberland.
It is thought to have affected at least 180 people.
Of the nine cases reported since late February, eight of the cases are confirmed and have the same type of hepatitis A virus (genotype IIIA) and one case is suspected.
