Tag Archives: South Africa

107 dead, 852 sick from Listeria in South Africa: Suspects unknown

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The National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD), in Johannesburg, South Africa, reported 107 case patients have died from Listeria monocytogenes.

The agency, which is a division of the National Health Dept., said 852 listeriosis cases were confirmed between Jan. 1, 2017 and Feb. 5,2018, but so far, the source of the outbreak is not known. “Presently no food sources that are contaminated with the outbreak strain have been found, including amongst poultry and poultry products,” the agency said in a statement.

61 dead from listeriosis in South Africa as fatalities double in a month

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Wendy Knowler of Business Day reports the death toll from the listeriosis outbreak plaguing SA has nearly doubled in the past month, to 61 from 36, as SA grapples with an outbreak that experts say is the worst on record, worldwide.

The origin of the outbreak remains a mystery, though researchers have confirmed it probably has a single source.

Nonetheless, a Sovereign Foods abattoir has been closed, after listeria bacteria were found there.

Sovereign Foods, which is based in the Eastern Cape‚ is one of the major poultry producers in Africa. The company delisted from the JSE on November 22, concluding a management buyout funded by private equity firm Capitalworks.

But Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi said the strain found at the abattoir was not the ST6 strain responsible for the deadly outbreak.

He told a briefing in Pretoria on Monday that a chicken sample collected from the fridge at a patient’s home tested positive for Listeria monocytogenes.

This chicken was traced back to the store and then traced back to the abattoir. It was sourced from Sovereign Foods‚ he said.

However‚ all samples collected from the abattoir have so far failed to pick up the ST6 strain of the outbreak that the country is experiencing.

As a consequence‚ authorities cannot yet link clinical isolates obtained from patients to particular foodstuffs or a food production site.

Motsoaledi said that the number of cases of listeriosis confirmed via lab testing had increased from 557 in early December to 727 at the latest count.

Food scientists are now calling it the worst documented listeriosis outbreak in global history.

The minister said 91% of the isolates were ST6 type isolates, a finding that supported the hypothesis that a single source of food contamination may have caused the outbreak from one or more food products at a single facility.

Dr Lucia Anelich‚ a prominent South African food microbiologist and food safety expert, said “I concur with my colleagues from business‚ academia and governments‚ in Europe‚ Australia‚ Canada and the US‚ that this is the worst documented listeriosis outbreak in global history.”

647 sick, 60 dead from Listeria in South Africa

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As of 19 December 2017, a total of 647 laboratory-confirmed listeriosis cases have been reported to the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) since 01 January 2017.

Diagnosis was based most commonly on the isolation of Listeria monocytogenes in blood culture (71%, 459/647), followed by CSF (24%, 156/647). Where age was reported (n=620), ages range from birth to 93 years (median 26 years) and 39% (241/620) are neonates aged ≤28 days . Of neonatal cases, 96% (232/241) had early-onset disease (birth to ≤6 days). Females account for 55% (341/623) of cases where gender is reported.

As of 19 December 2017, case investigation forms (CIFs) of variable completeness have been received for 229 (35%) cases. Apart from neonates (≤28 days) and the elderly (>65 years), additional risk factors for listeriosis reported include pregnancy (11/47 females aged 15-49 years) and HIV infection status. In non-neonatal cases where HIV status was known (n=117), 37% (43/117) were HIV positive. Maternal HIV status is known for 57 neonatal cases, of which 22/57 (38%) were HIV positive. Final outcome data is available for 20% (131/640) of cases, of which 46% (60/131) died.

To date, whole genome sequencing has been performed on 206 clinical L. monocytogenes isolates. Fifteen sequence types (STs) have been identified; however, 74% (153/206) belong to a single ST (ST6). Isolates in this ST6 cluster are very closely related, showing <20 single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) differences. This suggests that most cases in this outbreak have had exposure to a widely available, common food type/source

Clinical listeriosis management guidelines are available on the website (www.nicd.ac.za). Where clinicians suspect listeriosis but specimens (including CSF and blood) are culture negative, a polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based test can be performed at the NICD.

Whole genome sequencing is being performed on all clinical isolates and food/environmental isolates received from the NHLS Infection Control Laboratory in Johannesburg.

 

36 dead, 557 sick in Listeria outbreak in South Africa

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At a media briefing in Pretoria on Tuesday, South African Minister of Health Dr Aaron Motsoaledi announced that since January 1, 2017 up until November 29, 557 laboratory confirmed cases have been reported.

Of the 557 cases, the department of health has found the final outcome of 70 confirmed cases of listeriosis.

“Of these 70 cases, 36 persons have perished,” said Motsoaledi.

The source of the outbreak is currently being investigated, but Motsoaledi said it’s believe that this particular outbreak is from a food source that is being consumed by both the rich and the poor, and the contamination points may well be farms and food processing plants.

Over 1000 sickened with links to South African dairy

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Malibongwe Dayimani of Dispatch Live reports a King William’s Town dairy that supplied a number of schools in the area with fermented milk, or amasi, was last week ordered to close.

161102dairy01maInnesfree Agriculture and Dairy was identified as a supplier of amasi to a number of schools in the area where over 1000 pupils from 12 schools fell sick after eating amasi and pap.

The dairy was told to shut after Buffalo City Metro’s health services found it to be in contravention of regulations relating to the sale of milk and dairy products which state that the selling of raw milk and raw sour milk for human consumption is prohibited.

In the compliance notice, which is in the Daily Dispatch’s possession, Innesfree was ordered to stop selling dairy products with immediate effect and dispose of any raw milk or raw sour milk.

Innesfree owner Sherene Fourie accused the provincial government of being on a “witch-hunt” and said she was being targeted unfairly.

Fourie said “most” of the schools where pupils fell ill were not on the list of schools supplied by her dairy.

Fourie said health inspectors were wrong to point fingers at her because schools and individual buyers fetched milk from her shop using their own containers. “Did they go to the schools to check if the containers were sterilised? Or whether the food they cook at school was prepared in a proper manner?”

Fourie said some schools bought milk from her and stored it in their own tanks and nobody knew if those tanks were sterilised.

There were hundreds of dairies in the province selling raw milk, she added. “I would like to know, am I the only one who is shut down or are they planning to shut down other businesses?”

Last week 1056 pupils from 11 schools were treated for diarrhoea in three provincial hospitals after eating sour milk and pap offered by the national school nutrition programme.

South Africa doesn’t have capacity to forecast, track a foodborne disease

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A University of Pretoria (UP) food safety expert warns South Africa does not have adequate capacity to forecast and track a foodborne disease.

140818supermarket-jpgProfessor Lise Korsten has told a parliamentary workshop food safety is compromised due to a lack of integrated regulation.

Korsten says providing quality produce to poor communities remains the biggest challenge to food security.

She adds that the lack of an independent regulatory body to ensure food safety further compounds concern around the level of toxins in some food.

Korsten says while several policies have been drafted, no integrated system exists to curb foodborne diseases.

She adds industry and government need to be transparent and accountable regarding food certification.

Always cameras: South Africa KFC branch shuts after images go viral

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Fast food franchise KFC has announced its store in Braamfontein has been closed until further notice after images of staff “washing chickens” on a dirty floor surfaced on social media this week.

kfc.wash.chickenA Facebook user posted images of what appeared to be KFC staff in Braamfontein allegedly taking chicken pieces out of containers, placing them on a concrete floor and hosing them down.

The person who posted the images, Mfumo Bamuza, received them from an anonymous Joburg resident who took them from the balcony of his Clifton Heights flat in Braamfontein.

In the two images, staff can be seen using a hose to spray a large volume of water on to the uncooked chicken pieces.

In one image, blood and water can be seen streaming across the floor.

Bamuza captioned the picture: “KFC Braamfontein comrades!!! This is how they wash your meat. On the ground!!!!! Photocred goes to a south point (Clifton Heights) resident. #knowwhatyoueat.”

Over 200 South African students examined for food poisoning

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Some pupils were vomiting and others complained of abdominal pains, said spokesman Macks Lesufi in an e-mail.

vomit.toiletHe said at least 100 pupils were examined, treated, and released at Jane Furse hospital on Monday, while three of them were admitted.

Another 133 pupils were taken for examination to St Ritas hospital on the same day. Two of them were admitted.

Another eight pupils were taken to St Ritas on Tuesday, and one of them was admitted.

Lesufi said the three admitted to this hospital had since been discharged.

He could not confirm reports that shards of glass had been found in food eaten by the children.

Basic education department spokesman Elijah Mhlanga could not immediately be reached for comment.

Earlier, The Star reported that 275 pupils at Makeke Primary School were taken to hospital on Monday after eating food that contained pieces of glass.

150 South African students hospitalized after glass found in food

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Hungry Limpopo school children are the unsuspecting victims of an alleged tender war between food suppliers, according to reports.

glass.in.foodOn Monday more than 150 pupils from Kwena Tshwena Primary School in Ridgefontein were rushed to hospital after crushed glass was alleged found in their food, eNCA reported.

According an unnamed staff member the children received food from the school’s feeding scheme and by the afternoon a group of pupils were sent to hospital after complaining of stomach cramps and vomiting.

The staffer told eNCA that by Monday evening over 150 pupils were admitted to hospital.

Thabo Mogoaneng, an uncle of one of the children, told the news channel that it was not the first time such an incident had occurred.

Mogoaneng claimed that the poisoning and crushed bottles found in food were a result of the ongoing tender war between food suppliers.

The latest incident is the third one reported in Limpopo in as many months.

‘Children come to our schools to get support, not to leave in stretchers’ Third child dies in suspected food poisoning case in South Africa

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Cake provided by a community member may have resulted in the deaths of three children in Winterveldt, north of Pretoria.
It was earlier reported that three children died after eating food provided through a state feeding scheme at the Ema Primary School.

140528soup-jpgBut Gauteng Education MEC Panyaza Lesufi says a preliminary report indicates that all three of the children had also eaten food from a non-feeding scheme source.

“From the feeding programme we provided yesterday, dough or bread was not part of the menu. It emerged that they ate cake, and we did not provide cake. Late last night a granny came forward to say she had provided the cake.” Police are now interrogating the woman.

The three girls, aged between 6 and 8, died at a local clinic shortly after falling ill at the primary school yesterday.

Lesufi has ordered an investigation into the incident and says other pupils who ate the government supplied food have been observed overnight and are in good health.

“I’m speechless. Children come to our schools to get support, not to leave our schools in stretchers. I’m saddened and don’t have words to describe this. I will investigate this.”