Lynne Terry of The Oregonian reports that a private meeting of medical professionals at the Oregon Zoo last week ended with dozens of people falling ill.
About 90 of the 220 people at a Wednesday morning meeting of Women’s Healthcare Associates developed severe gastro-intestinal symptoms, said Dr. Katrina Hedberg, state epidemiologist at Oregon Public Health.
No one was hospitalized, but those who were sickened became severely ill. Investigators suspect they were infected with norovirus, which is highly contagious and spreads among people every winter.
Oregon Public Health scientists are investigating the zoo outbreak, trying to determine the source of the contamination. Hedberg said that most likely a food handler infected with norovirus contaminated the food, which in turn sickened those who ate it. The virus is spread through human contact or through food, water or the environment.
Zoo staff catered the event, held in one of the private spaces below the Cascade Grill that the zoo rents out to private parties.
Following a treatment that will kill cryptosporidium, the pool will re-open Friday morning, said General Manager Justin Cutler.
One of the cases of cryptosporidium has been confirmed by a lab, but the other case has not yet been confirmed.
Cutler voluntarily closed the district’s two swimming pools and the therapy pool after he and Aquatic Supervisor Genesee Dennis spoke with the Clatsop County Public Health Department and the Oregon Health Authority.
To kill the parasite, the district will hyper-chlorinate the pool, which is the procedure recommended by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
In a scene apparently out of movies like Snatch or Hannibal, Terry V. Garner, a 70-year-old Oregon farmer, went to feed his animals. Several hours later, when he hadn’t returned, a family member went to look for him and found, on the ground of the hog enclosure, his dentures.
NBC reports that further investigation of the enclosure revealed that the hogs, which each weighed about 700 pounds, had nearly completely eaten the farmer, although some body parts were strewn about the enclosure.
Now the Coos County Sheriff’s Office is investigating how Garner “ended up in a position where the hogs were able to consume him.” According to the Sheriff’s statement:
There are several scenarios being investigated, including that Mr. Garner had a health event, such as a heart attack, which then put him in a position where the hogs could consume him. Another scenario being investigated is that given the age and health of Mr. Garner, that one or more of the hogs knocked Mr. Garner to the ground, whereupon that hogs killed and consumed him. In addition, due to the unusual circumstances presented
The statement added that at least one of the hogs had previously been aggressive toward the farmer but did not specify how many hogs live on the farm.
Eatocracy reports that the no-bare-hands rule was originally supposed to go into effect on July 1, but Oregon public health officials delayed the decision because of public debate that these new safety rules were not actually safe.
The rule would have prohibited food handlers from contacting “exposed, ready-to-eat food” with their bare hands. Instead, any contact would have to be made with “suitable utensils,” including deli tissue, spatulas, tongs and single-use gloves.
Wednesday, regulators of Oregon’s Foodborne Illness Prevention Program announced that “…at this time, the ‘No Bare Hand Contact’ section of new food safety rules will not be adopted.”
Among the complaints raised by food experts: gloves give foodservice handlers a false sense of cleanliness, create more plastic waste (especially since plastic bags are banned in Oregon) and add a supplementary cost for restaurateurs.
Happy 50th birthday, Rolling Stones, especially the Taylor years.
I’m not sure if it’s a function of getting old or whether my circle of friends are changing their habits but my Facebook timeline has been peppered with status updates about trips to the farmers’ market, harvesting backyard vegetables and canning. There are a lot of canning-related updates.
Growing up all I was really exposed to was pickles, freezer jam and frozen peaches. All of which I loved to eat, but I always found ways to occupy myself while my mom and grandmother were preserving for fear of having to help. My dad and grandfather usually golfed while this was all going down. I never paid attention to what was happening and didn’t really care.
I also didn’t know anything about botulism.
In 2011, a 29-year-old man was hospitalized after five days of progressive dizziness, blurred vision, dysphagia, and difficulty breathing. The patient required mechanical ventilation and botulism antitoxin. He remained in the hospital for 57 days and then spent some time in a rehabilitation facility. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, he had tasted some potato soup that included botulinum toxin.
In 1977, 59 patrons of a Detroit Mexican restaurant became ill with botulism after consuming improperly canned peppers. As a result of rumors of a pending shortage of fresh peppers, the restaurant staff decided to stick lightly-cooked peppers and some water in jars and seal them.
Putting low acid foods in a jar and sealing them without either acidifying (with vinegar/fermentation) or processing using pressure is a bad idea. That’s why the good folks at UGA’s National Center for Home Food Preservation like Elizabeth Andress and Judy Harrison lead efforts to come up with, test and evaluate recipes for home canning.
According to NewsChannel 21, three Oregonians have been hospitalized after suffering from botulism linked to improperly home-canned foods:
The Oregon State Public Health Lab has confirmed that three Central Oregon residents who were hospitalized contracted botulism at a private barbecue, Deschutes County health officials said Monday. Deschutes County Health Services has conducted an investigation and implicated home-canned food as the source of the Botulism. Final testing results are pending.
No other details were released, though officials told NewsChannel 21 two of the three people affected are back at home recovering.
"This was an isolated incident and Deschutes County Health Services has notified all involved individuals," a news release stated. "Botulism in NOT spread person to person, so there is no risk to the general public as a result of these cases."
County officials called the incident a good reminder of the importance of following strict hygienic procedures to reduce contamination of foods while canning, as well as obtaining the necessary pressure when canning to effectively destroy bacteria and prevent botulism.
Check out three streams of evidence-based home canning fun that I recorded with Brenda Sutton (North Carolina Cooperative Extension’s Produce Lady) where we talk about risk-reduction steps.
Taking smugness to a new level, which is a worthy achievement given the level of smugness already found in Oregon, restaurant owners and chefs have successfully delayed a new no-hands rule for food contact.
Michael Russell of OregonLive writes the rule could make dining out more expensive, create waste and, despite its good intentions, do little to protect public health and isn’t safer than the state’s current rigorous handwashing practices.
Except no one has validated whether those handwashing practices are actually followed or just sound smugly superior.
"The idea that using rubber gloves is going to stop people from getting sick is ludicrous," said Andy Ricker, chef and owner of Pok Pok restaurants in Portland and New York. His New York locations already comply with that state’s no bare-hand-contact rule.
"For it to be safe, every time you touch something, you’d have to take your gloves off, wash your hands, and put on new gloves." Ricker said.
At least a half-dozen recent studies have concluded the same: Counter intuitively, wearing gloves does little to prevent the spread of bacteria compared with effective hand washing.
But wearing gloves is not the same as a no-bare-hand contact rule. They’re called tongs (not thongs).
Wearing gloves has been found to reduce the number of times people wash their hands, while warm, moist conditions create a hothouse for bacteria to grow. A 2005 report from the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center that analyzed grilled tortillas found more staph, coliform and other harmful bacteria on the samples prepared by workers wearing gloves.
Eric Pippert, a manager with the Oregon Health Authority’s Foodborne Illness Prevention department, said the measure was created to prevent the spread of norovirus, the most common cause of food poisoning. It’s often spread through improper hand washing by employees after they use the bathroom.
Norovirus spreads easily; a don’t work while sick rule would be more effective at reducing the spread of norovirus (ask Harvard or Heston).
In response to those who favor hand washing, Pippert points to a 2003 health authority survey in which restaurant inspectors found at least one hand-washing violation at nearly two-thirds of Oregon eateries.
"Anybody who tells you hand washing is so darned good, well, yeah, except when you’re not doing it," he said.
But restaurant owners argue that handwashing has since been drilled into cooks across the state. And they contend the rule — which will affect bakeries and barrooms, fine dining and food carts — would make gloves mandatory for many tasks, creating new headaches and new costs in a notoriously low-margin business. And those added costs might end up passed along to customers.
When asked for his thoughts on the new rule, sushi chef Bruce Lee at Hillsboro’s Syun Izakaya replied, "When’s that happening again, in January?"
For Lee, wearing gloves presents a concern beyond potential health risks.
"If you wear the glove, you’re not able to feel the rice tenderness, or softness," he said. "Even wasabi — you can feel how much you need with your fingers. But if you wear the glove, you’re never going to feel it.
"If I had a choice, I wouldn’t wear it."
And I wouldn’t want anyone temping food with their fingers.
Oregon health officials suspect two more illnesses are part of a raw milk outbreak traced nearly three weeks ago to a farm near Wilsonville.
William Keene, senior epidemiologist with Oregon Public Health, told Lynne Terry of The Oregonianthe two adults had both consumed raw milk from Foundation Farm, including one person who continued to drink it after being warned about the outbreak.
Keene said one was sickened by campylobacter, the other by cryptosporidium, making 21 likely cases in the outbreak. Nineteen others were infected with E. coli. One of the worst foodborne pathogens, E. coli O157:H7 was on rectal swabs from two of the farm’s four cows. Milk and manure from the farm also tested positive for the same bacteria.
State epidemiologists did not test for campylobacter or cryptosporidium so they don’t know for sure that the two new cases are linked to Foundation Farm milk, but Keene said it’s likely.
Cryptosporidium and campylobacter repeatedly turn up in raw milk, he said, along with other harmful bacteria.
Four children who drank the milk were hospitalized with acute kidney failure, which is associated with E. coli O157:H7. As of Friday, they were still in the hospital, Keene said.
Two of the patients — 14 and 13 — are Portland area middle schoolers. The others are 3 and 1 years old.
A fifth child from Lane County, who drank the milk while visiting relatives in the Portland area, was hospitalized and released.
"We’ve documented yet another unfortunate incident where people missed the boat on one of the great advances in public health — pasteurization," Keene said.
Lab tests confirmed Tuesday what Oregon health officials suspected: Raw milk from Foundation Farm near Wilsonville was contaminated with a deadly strain of E. coli.
The tests found E. coli O157:H7 in the milk, manure and the cows themselves, said Christine Stone, spokeswoman for Oregon Public Health.
Lynne Terry of The Oregonian reports at least 17 people are ill, including four children who’ve been hospitalized. Three of them are on kidney support.
Stone said multiple samples from Foundation Farm, including manure and rectal swabs from two of the cows tested positive for E. coli O157:H7. It also turned up in leftover milk.
Epidemiologists don’t always find pathogens in contaminated food because it’s never widespread in a product.
"The fact that it was found in the milk itself shows that it was probably contamination at a high level," said Dr. Katrina Hedberg, state epidemiologist.
The farm, located on 17 acres, has four Jersey dairy cows, three that are lactating. It sold to 48 households through a herd-share program in which customers bought part of the herd. Oregon health officials have interviewed most of the families.
The Salyers, who own the farm, have sold raw milk for at least a year. The Salyers have made no public comment. They’ve taken down contact information from a website and they’ve not returned calls seeking comment.
Lynne Terry of The Oregonian writesthe latest outbreak associated with raw milk has put a toddler and two young teens from the Portland metro area in the hospital with E. coli poisoning, two with kidney failure.
A fourth child — also under 15 — fell ill but was not hospitalized.
Officials from Oregon Public Health said Friday the children consumed raw milk from Foundation Farm, a family run operation in Wilsonville. At least seven other people who drank the farm’s raw milk — adults and children — have developed either diarrhea or bloody diarrhea, a sign of E. coli O157:H7.
The outbreak could grow. Foundation Farm, which agreed to stop production, sold raw milk to 48 families in Multnomah, Clackamas and Washington counties through a herd-sharing program. By Friday afternoon, state epidemiologists had only interviewed about half of them.
Dr. Katrina Hedberg, state epidemiologist, said anyone with the farm’s raw milk or products made from the milk should throw them out.
A total of 20 states nationwide ban the sale of raw milk and 13 restrict sales. Oregon allows retail distribution of raw goat’s milk but not raw cow or sheep’s milk, which can only be sold directly to consumers at farms with no more than two producing cows and a maximum of nine producing sheep.
Foundation Farm has four cows, three that are lactating. But the farm is not breaking the law because herd-sharing programs are not regulated, said Bruce Pokarney, spokesman for the Oregon Department of Agriculture.
"There is no sale going on technically," he said. "The people who have
shares of the herd own the cows. That milk is their milk. It’s as if they are living on the farm."
The company is owned by Bradley Salyers, according to a filing with the Oregon Secretary of State. The company took down its website, and Salyers could not be reached Friday for comment.
"There are laws that prohibit the retail sale (of raw milk) because this is not a safe product," Hedberg said. "People think there is a controversy. There is no controversy. People routinely used to get sick from raw milk."
epidemiologist at Oregon Public Health. 
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But in Oregon, 
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Two of the patients — 14 and 13 — are Portland area middle schoolers. The others are 3 and 1 years old. .jpg)
hospitalized. Three of them are on kidney support..jpg)
Friday afternoon, state epidemiologists had only interviewed about half of them.