Tag Archives: Sweden

Petting zoos shuttered in Sweden, UK, over disease fears

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Sorenne’s day care had its own petting zoo on Thursday with sheep, ducks, and others. I’d been in Brisbane less than 24 hours and had to finish marking papers so didn’t stick around to observe the interactions, but I attempted to ensure the kids were going to be washing with soap and water, not just sanitizer, and that staff would be watching to minimize the hand-on-ruminant-and-into-mouth move favored by 2-year-olds.

A petting zoo in southern Sweden closed its doors after it was confirmed that at least one foal was infected with salmonella.

Although one park visitor was first suspected of contracting salmonella after petting the zoo’s salmonella-infected pony, authorities are now saying there is no information about humans having been infected.

In the U.K., a popular visitor attraction Cruckley Animal Farm has been permanently closed after an outbreak of E. coli.

The family-run farm, at Foston-on-the-Wolds, had been a firm favorite with school children and families for almost quarter of a century.

But now owners John and Sue Johnston have taken the decision to close the 60-acre site permanently after several visitors to the farm fell ill and a Health Protection Agency investigation launched.

It is believed that six cases of E. coli O157 have been linked to the farm and Mr Johnston said they are working closely with the HPA to help them with their enquiries.
 

Cook sprouts: Egyptian seeds most likely source of deadly E. coli

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A single shipment of fenugreek seeds from Egypt is the most likely source of a highly toxic E. coli epidemic in Germany which has killed 49 people and of a smaller outbreak in France, European investigators said on Tuesday.

The European Food Safety Authority urged the European Commission to make "all efforts" to prevent any further consumer exposure to suspect seeds and advised consumers not to eat sprouts or sprouted seeds unless they are thoroughly cooked.

Reuters reports more than 4,100 people in Europe and in North America have been infected in two outbreaks of E. coli infection — one centred in northern Germany and one focused around the French city of Bordeaux.

Almost all of those affected in the first outbreak — the deadliest on record — lived in Germany or had recently travelled there. The infection has killed 48 people in Germany and one person in Sweden so far.

"The analysis of information from the French and German outbreaks leads to the conclusion that an imported lot of fenugreek seeds which was used to grow sprouts imported from Egypt by a German importer is the most common likely link," the EFSA said in a statement.

A consignment of fenugreek seeds, from the batch believed to be the source of the EHEC infection in Germany and France, has been tracked to Sweden, according to the Swedish National Food Administration.

The seeds have been recalled but 25 kilos have already arrived in Sweden. The National Food Administration has contacted the company Econova in Norrköping, who in their turn have stopped the sales and recalled already delivered bags of seeds.

Best in show: dog show leads to E. coli outbreak in Sweden

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Around 50 dog owners and several dogs are believed to have been infected with enterohaemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC) following a dog show in eastern Sweden.

"We’re right in the middle of investigating where the bacteria came from," Britt Åkerlind of the infectious disease unit of Östergötland County told The Local.

So far, two Swedes have been confirmed as infected by EHEC, one from Skåne in the south, and another from Gothenburg in the west.

"But we’re expecting more confirmed cases to come in," said Åkerlind.

Those infected with the bacteria all attended a dog show near Norrköping in eastern Sweden held the first weekend in June.

Of the roughly 120 participants, who traveled from all over Sweden as well as from Denmark, Norway, and Finland, about half have come down with symptoms stemming from EHEC infection.

"We’ve also received reports that some of the dogs have had upset stomachs," said Åkerlind, who labeled the outbreak as "quite large."

Cryptosporidium strikes Sweden again; 1,500 sick

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Late in 2010, up to 11,000 people were sickened by cryptosporidium in Ostersund, Sweden.

Today, The Local is reporting as many as 1,500 inhabitants in the municipality of Skellefteå in northern Sweden have confirmed in a survey that they have experienced stomach flu symptoms probably caused by a parasite outbreak.

Results from tests of water samples following the parasite infection could be completed on Wednesday.

The web survey conducted by Skellefteå and the Swedish Institute for Communicable Disease Control (Smittskyddsinstitutet – SMI) had been answered by 2,300 residents of the municipality by Wednesday lunchtime. Of those around 60 percent, 1,500 people, confirmed that they experienced stomach flu symptoms since April 1st.

Many complained of having had abdominal pain, diarrhea or gassy stomachs.
The survey has confirmed theories that the stomach flu has probably been caused by the parasite Cryptosporidium could have originated in the municipal water supply, local authorities confirmed at a press conference in Skellefteå on Wednesday.

SMI’s results on drinking water samples, expected at the latest on Thursday could be completed already Thursday afternoon.

Woman finds condom and receipt in milk drink in Sweden

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Tests were being carried out today on a container of a popular Swedish fermented milk drink after a woman claimed she found a condom and a receipt inside it.

The woman, known only as Bejta, made the discovery at her home near Gothenburg, western Sweden, after she drank two cups of Arla Food’s filmjolk, a sour-tasting fermented milk drink, and poured the remaining liquid into her dog’s bowl, Swedish newspaper Expressen reported yesterday.

To her surprise it was not only milk that appeared in the bowl – a pink-colored condom still in its packaging and a receipt also fell in.

When Milica called Arla’s customer services team she was told the discovery was "impossible".

They suggested someone in the home must have placed the condom and receipt inside the product as prank.

However, Milica told the newspaper that could not have happened.

Arla Sweden spokeswoman Katarina Malmstrom told Expressen the company was waiting for an analysis of the container in a bid to assess what had happened.

"I deeply regret that there was someone who fell victim to something like this, no matter what caused it," Ms Malmstrom said.

Over 11,000 sick in Sweden cryptosporidium outbreak; source found

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Investigators in Ostersund, Sweden, say they traced a cryptosporidium outbreak that has sickened more than 11,000 residents to a multifamily dwelling in the city’s Odensala neighborhood

Ostersund environmental head Jari Hiltula told Swedish news agency TT,

"We’ve found high levels of the parasite in the connection to this source. We’ve handed over the information to the police who are responsible for the investigation. A property owner will also be contacted."

The parasite may have entered the city’s water supply through a sewage line mistakenly connected to a rainwater drainage system, the report said.

"It looks like the sewage pipe wasn’t connected properly," said Andrew Sorensson, an environmental crimes investigator with the Ostersund police.

5,700 sick as Swedish city traces source of cryptosporidium in water supply

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The water system in Östersund, in northern Sweden, has been found to contain an area with high levels of cryptosporidium which has left thousands of people ill and the city’s water undrinkable.

Östersund municipality is now considering how the area can be sealed off so that the parasite does not continue to reach the water treatment plant, it was revealed at the press conference (photo from The Local).

Those responsible at the municipality would not reveal if the area was found in water or on land.

The details of the tests were passed on to police and prosecutors this morning.

Nearly one in ten residents of Östersund has now been hit by a stomach bug caused by the parasite in the municipal water supply.

Two operating rooms at Östersund Hospital are today closed due to the rampaging stomache flu.

The infection has hit hospital staff – with almost 200 workers at home from work on Thursday, according to Sveriges Television (SVT). Hospital management expects an increasing number of sick staff over the next few days.

The hospital has 3000 liters of clean water driven in every day in order to secure water supplies.

Crypto crime probe in Sweden

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Police said today a criminal investigation is under way in Sweden to determine how an intestinal parasite ended up in the town of Ostersund’s municipal water supply, sickening more than 2,000 residents.

Environmental prosecutor Christer B. Jarlas said release of the parasite cryptosporidium may have been the result of criminal negligence, the Swedish news agency TT reported Tuesday.

He said he has reason to believe that the contamination was due to carelessness by one or several individuals who didn’t have control of their operations.

Sweden’s National Center for Infectious Disease Control told TT the 50,000 residents of Ostersund will have to boil their water for several weeks.
 

Cryptosporidium outbreak sickens thousands in Sweden

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UPI reports that cryptosporidium in the water supply has sickened more than 2,000 people in the city of Ostersund, in northern Sweden.

The source of the contamination is unknown.

It is feared 3,000 to 9,000 people may be infected.

A warning to boil tap water was issued Friday and renewed Monday.

Several members of Sweden’s biathlon team, training in Ostersund for an international competition in the city, have come down with symptoms.
 

Shock and shame, Swedish version for clean water

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What has been called a disturbing but effective ad from the Church of Sweden, shows a mother filling a baby bottle with dirty dishwater and then feeding it to her child, to highlight the plight of countries worldwide that don’t have access to clean drinking water.

The campaign has raised over US$ 32,500 for church-sponsored water and sanitation projects but at the same time it has upset some Swedish viewers.

The reactions to the film have included criticism that the woman in the ad is white, giving the dirty water to a white baby. That was one reaction the [Church of Sweden] said it hadn’t expected.”

“Margareta Grape, the [Church of Sweden’s] foreign minister, said in a press statement that she believes people need thought-provoking and challenging images like those contained in the ad to wake up and realize that clean water issue are severe, but also that they can be solved."