Tag Archives: michigan

Michigan candy maker recalls treats because employees had norovirus

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Murdick’s Famous Fudge of Charlevoix has issued a voluntary recall of some of its products because they may have been handled by ill store employees.

The Times Herald reports the recall was initiated after the local health department investigation of alleged illnesses associated with eating caramels produced at this location indicated that some employees of Murdick’s Famous Fudge had been exhibiting symptoms typically attributed to a norovirus infection. 



Included in the recall are individually wrapped caramels (all varieties); peanut brittle; cashew brittle; and saltwater taffy (all varieties).

The recalled caramels, nut brittles and saltwater taffy were sold from the Charlevoix Murdick’s Famous Fudge store on Bridge Street only. This recall does not affect any other Murdick’s locations.

Tri delt sorority barf

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Being Canadian, I never got the whole sorority-fraternity thing except what I saw in Animal House, which I presumed was an accurate representation of American college life.

Amy’s always going on about the University of Michigan because she got her PhD from there but prefers the sunshine of Kansas to the climatic drudgery of Michigan.

Things were shaking at the U-M Delta Delta Delta house Saturday night as firefighters were called to help 37 women suffering from nausea, vomiting and diarrhea.

Maybe it was a sorority prank.

Washtenaw County Environmental Health supervisor Kristen Schweighoefer told the Detroit Free Press the sorority shared meals, so the students could have been exposed that way, adding,

“We don’t know which meal or what food item at this point.”

It’s too early to say for sure that norovirus was the cause without laboratory testing, she said.
 

8 sick with E. coli O157:H7 in Huron County, Michigan

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Traverse City, Michigan, is not in the upper peninsula, or UP.

I’m sorry.

But something’s going on in Michigan, where last week several people were confirmed sick with shigatoxin-producing E. coli, and late Wednesday, Huron County health types announced several children and one adult are experiencing gastrointestinal (bowel) infections which are presumed to be E. coli O157:H7.

The Huron County Health Department issued a release Wednesday afternoon. with the usual snappy soundbites like,

“Some people may experience only mild diarrhea or no symptoms at all,” and, “Eating meat that is rare or inadequately cooked is the most common way of getting the infection.”

Maybe, but I doubt it. Cross contamination could be a bigger cause, based on direct observation of people in commercial or home kitchens.
 

E. coli cases linked to fair in Michigan UP

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Traverse City, Michigan, is sorta famous in food safety circles because a 1982 outbreak of E. coli O157:H7 was the first time the bug was identified as a cause of human disease, after 47 people in and Traverse City and White City, Oregon, developed severe stomach disorders after eating hamburgers at McDonald’s outlets.

Reporting on E. coli O157:H7 in the New York Times began on 8 October 1982 with prompt coverage of this first known outbreak. Researchers at the U.S. Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said the bacterium associated with the outbreaks was normally killed by cooking. The next day, federal epidemiologists characterized the disease as an intestinal ailment that had not proven fatal and was not a major public health hazard ; yet by Nov. 5, 1982 another 29 cases were reported.

In 1983, CDC issued a report on the Oregon and Michigan outbreaks and by 1984, the first report on the behavior of the organism and possible control measures appeared.

Today, the Grand Traverse County Health Department reported it had received reports of three probable cases of shigatoxin-producing E. coli in the past week.

All cases were in children and all three attended the Northwestern Michigan Fair in Grand Traverse County between August 9 and August 13.

The onset of symptoms, including bloody diarrhea, were between August 15 and August 17.

Dr. Michael Collins, Medical Director for the Grand Traverse County Health Department said,

"Considering the number of animals in close proximity to people at that venue, it seems likely that their infections were contracted there. Though we will probably never know exactly which animal or animals were involved as sources.”

The water supply at the Fairgrounds was tested prior to the event and will be re-tested for possible contamination. Area physicians were also notified and encouraged to obtain stool cultures for individuals with severe or bloody diarrhea.
 

Ann Arbor high school senior suffers long illness; cause unknown

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AnnArbor.com reports that for the past three years, Kayla Brophy (right, photo from AnnArbor.com) dreamt what this spring would be like. A steady contributor to the Saline High School softball team since she was a freshman, this was her time.

She was going to be a senior captain in the pitching circle. After splitting time with upperclassmen – including her own sister, Lisa, for two years – this year’s Hornet squad was going to be Brophy’s team to put on her shoulders and carry.

It didn’t happen. Instead, she spent February, March and April in a light-headed, queasy-stomached fog. She missed 10 weeks of school. She made numerous trips to the emergency room for intravenous fluids. She took a battery of tests administered by a battery of doctors.

It all started on Jan. 30 when Brophy was suffering from severe flu-like symptoms. Maybe it was the flu. Or maybe it was food poisoning? A virus? Nobody is sure.

But when she turned gray and clammy, Carol and Steve Brophy decided to drive their middle child to the emergency room. When Kayla kept losing consciousness as they tried to put on her shoes, Carol and Steve decided to call an ambulance.

After that night’s scare and a two-day hospital stay, Brophy embarked on a 90-day cycle of continuing illness and frustration. With all tests coming back negative, doctors were left to assume that she was battling a virus or simply needed to wait as her body corrected itself from the loop it was thrown for on Jan. 30.

I wonder if it had anything to do with E. coli O145, which would surface a few months later in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Non-O157 E. coli outbreak at Ohio State University linked to University of Michigan outbreak?

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In the interest of free and open discussion, Ohio State University types are being particularly tight-lipped about a possible E. coli outbreak, and possible links to an outbreak in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Aren’t there a bunch of E. coli experts at both places?

I get that in the absence of information, it’s not a good idea to speculate. But these folks, based on their public writings, seem to know more than they are letting on.

And that puts others at risk.

Columbus Public Health is actively investigating an outbreak of food-related illness, caused by E. coli. Five cases of E.coli non – O157 have been reported to Public Health, two of which have been confirmed as a match to cases in a Michigan outbreak.

“We are currently working with all identified cases to collect the information we need,” says Dr. Mysheika LeMaile-Williams, Medical Director for the City of Columbus, “and we are actively doing everything we can to identify the source of infection.”

Those students got sick in mid-April.
 

Substitute teacher brings hepatitis A to class

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Always with the substitute teachers.

Jack Black in The School of Rock appeared not to have hepatitis A or several other diseases from hanging out in all them rock and roll clubs. But he’s a celebrity.

The Grand Rapids Press in Michigan reports that an elementary school substitute teacher at Hastings Public Schools has been diagnosed with hepatitis A, leading school officials to notify parents today because the illness can be contagious.

Especially if that person doesn’t know how to properly wash their hands.

Hastings Superintendent Richard Satterlee said the district sent a letter to parents as a precaution. So far, no students have become ill.

Ann Arbor E. coli outbreak sickens 10

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Amy’s always telling me how great Ann Arbor is, because she spent six years getting PhD-ified there at the University of Michigan.

I’ve been there a couple of times, driving between Ontario and Kansas with Amy, and didn’t think much of the place. Expensive and dumpy.

Now Ann Arbor has its own outbreak of E. coli (sounds like O157:H7) amongst at least 10 residents. Other details were sparse – which is weird considering it’s such a big university town (that was sarcasm).

8 sick with campylobacter from Michigan raw milk cowshare

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The Michigan Department of Community Health said Friday there are eight confirmed cases of campylobacter in Macomb, Washtenaw and Wayne counties and that the people all reported consuming products from Family Farms’ Cooperative in Vandalia, 60 miles south of Grand Rapids.

It operates a program in which members own part of a cow and receive raw dairy products.

Family Farms’ attorney Stephen Bemis said internal tests don’t show a link to the illnesses but the cooperative is working with the state.

Michigan doesn’t regulate cow share programs, and products aren’t available at retail stores.

Home Alone Michigan 3-year-old restaurant version

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The Digital Journal reports a 3-year-old had a fun birthday celebration with relatives and friends, gifts and pizza on March 13 at Caesarland pizzeria. Everyone left about 7 p.m.; the manager of the restaurant noticed the little boy alone around 9 p.m. (no accounting for those 2 hours after the family left).

The police were called and they took the child to headquarters and called Child Protective Services. They took the boy and he was temporarily placed into foster care.

Warren Police Commissioner Bill Dwyer said, "It’s pretty bizarre. … There were about 20 people that were there at the party, including the mother and father, the grandmother, and some relatives and friends. … The father is indicating… that he thought that the mother had picked up the three-year-old. They’re separated, but they live in the same apartment complex. The mother is telling us that she thought that the father or grandmother had taken the three-year-old home. … How can they forget or assume that the other parent for two days has their son? I mean, there’s no excuse for this."

The boy remains in foster care.