Tag Archives: Vibrio

Raw is risky: South Korean man, 71, had hand amputated when skin started rotting 12 hours after eating sushi

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Zoe Drewett of Metro wrote in August that a man from South Korea became infected with a potentially deadly flesh-eating bacteria which caused painful black ulcers to grow across his skin 12 hours after indulging in the raw seafood. The infection was so bad that he had to have his hand and forearm amputated 25 days later.

The 71-year-old man went to hospital after two days of fever and excruciating pain in his left hand that had developed 12 hours after eating raw seafood Medics drained the blisters before deciding his limb could not be saved because the unnamed man’s skin had started rotting so badly. The pensioner visited doctors in Jeonju, South Korea, after experiencing excruciating pain in his hand for two days. His story, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, took a turn when a blister on the palm of his hand grew to 3.5cm by 4.5cm – approximately the size of a golf ball.

39 sick from Vibrio in sushi in Japan

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They have a video, but this one is better.

The Japan News reports that Totoyamichi, a conveyor-belt sushi restaurant operator affiliated with Japan’s Skylark Holdings Co., — which sounds creepy enough on its own — has been shutting all 24 outlets since Monday after food poisoning occurred at some of them.

At least 39 customers have complained of food poisoning symptoms after eating at Totoyamichi restaurants.

Skylark reported the case only on its website while stopping short of holding a press conference. The restaurant group may thus come under fire for failing to fully explain the incident, analysts said.

According to Skylark, food poisoning symptoms, such as diarrhea and stomachache, were reported from customers who used eight Totoyamichi outlets in Tokyo and neighboring Kanagawa and Saitama prefectures between Aug. 31 and Sept. 3. The affected customers are recovering from their illness.

In a survey by Skylark, Vibrio parahaemolyticus, a type of bacteria that causes stomachache and other symptoms, was detected from raw sea urchin at some outlets.
 

 

Multistate outbreak of Vibrio parahaemolyticus infections linked to fresh crab meat imported from Venezuela

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The U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC), is getting in on the vibrio outbreak linked to crab meat imported from Venezuela – often posing as Maryland crab – along with state and local health officials, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

CDC recommends that consumers not eat, restaurants not serve, and retailers not sell fresh crab meat imported from Venezuela at this time.

How would consumers know? Ask questions?

Consumers are not the critical control point of this food safety system.

Yet my 9-year-old knew enough to ask if the aioli that was served with her chips at a hockey tournament in Newcastle, Australia, this was weekend, contained raw egg.

I wasn’t around, but a shiver of pride went through my body.

This type of product may be labeled as fresh or precooked. It’s commonly found in plastic containers.

Food contaminated with Vibrio parahaemolyticus usually looks, smells, and tastes normal.

Steamed crab meat from blue crab (close up)

If you buy crab meat and do not know whether it is from Venezuela, do not eat, serve, or sell it. Throw it away.

CDC, state and local health officials, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration are investigating a multistate outbreak of Vibrio parahaemolyticus infections linked to eating fresh crab meat imported from Venezuela.

Epidemiologic evidence indicates that precooked fresh crab meat imported from Venezuela is the likely source of this outbreak.

Twelve people infected with Vibrio parahaemolyticus who ate fresh crab meat have been reported from Maryland, Louisiana, Pennsylvania, and the District of Columbia.

Four people (33%) have been hospitalized. No deaths have been reported.

Illnesses started on dates ranging from April 1, 2018 to July 3, 2018.

Food fraud: Crab meat from Venezuela linked to 9 cases of vibrio in Maryland

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While Maryland Blue Crabs are a staple in the DMV, many places do sell crabs, packaged crab meat, and crab cakes with crab from elsewhere.

Anne Cutler of Fox 26 says the National Aquarium in Baltimore reports that due to environmental degradation and years of overfishing, there’s not enough blue crab in the region to support demand, and grocery stores and restaurants often resort to selling imported crab.

According to ocean conservancy organization Oceana, 33 percent of the seafood purchased in the United States is actually mislabeled.

The National Aquarium reports that under current law, crab meat can be imported from around the world, pasteurized in-state and relabeled as “Maryland crabmeat.”

Nine people have contracted dangerous Vibrio infections in Maryland alone. The state’s Department of Health is warning residents to not eat crab meat from Venezuela.

“We’re selling a lot of crab meat, shrimp, lobster, whatever you want. We’re steaming it for you. And as far as this crab meat, we gotta get it from the eastern shore now, because we heard from the media what’s going on,” said Clarence Goodman, with Jessie Taylor Seafood.

Goodman says the company is not taking any chances — sticking with products almost exclusively from the eastern seaboard. 

The crab in question comes in the little plastic tubs. Consumers should look for a label on the side of the container that says where the meat is from. If it comes from Venezuela, you don’t want to get it.

Diners should also pay attention when buying crab cakes as well.A 2015 study from Oceana found that 38 percent of crab cakes being advertised as having locally sourced Chesapeake blue crab were actually made of imported meat.

In the state of Maryland, only a few dozen restaurants in the state reliably make their crab cakes from local crabmeat and the state does not require restaurants to identify the specific source of the meat.

The state has a listing of “True Blue” local restaurants that serve Maryland blue crab.

Food safety and tourism are mutually dependent: Vibrio in conch in Bahamas

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Morgan Adderley of Tribune 242 reports there have been four confirmed cases of conch poisoning and as many as six unconfirmed cases, Bahamas Health Minister Duane Sands announced yesterday.

According to Dr Sands, the exposure took place in the previous 72 to 96 hours with a number of the patients affected having eaten at Potter’s Cay.

Noting that an outbreak of conch poisoning is something the country can “ill afford” right now, Dr Sands was adamant the issue can be easily mitigated if proper hygiene is maintained.

Four cases have been confirmed via laboratory testing but Dr Sands said there are a number of unconfirmed cases – “possibly as many as six” awaiting laboratory results. He added the affected people are being treated at both Doctors Hospital and Princess Margaret Hospital, and so far, all the self-identified patients are Bahamian.

Dr Sands said the steps to controlling the outbreak lie in proper hygiene and public and vendor awareness.

“Environmental Health teams (are speaking) directly with the vendors, not only at Potter’s Cay but throughout New Providence and anywhere else that we may have reason to suspect possibility of exposure,” Dr Sands said.

“We learned back in the 1990s that this is easily controlled if people practice very simple techniques of washing conch with fresh water. And that minimises, if not eliminates the possibility of transmission.

If it’s so simple, why do so many people get sick?

Vibrio cholerae on Vancouver Island linked to herring eggs

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Island Health says it is investigating confirmed cases of Vibrio cholerae infection contracted by people who ate herring eggs on Vancouver Island.

The health authority is now warning the public not to consume herring eggs found on kelp, seaweed or other surfaces that have been harvested from the French Creek to Qualicum Bay area, as they could be tainted.

Island Health did not specify how many people fell ill from eating the herring eggs or how severe their symptoms were.

Vibrio cholerae is a bacterium found in water that can cause intestinal illness including the disease cholera. 

It called the situation “unique” and said it will release more information as it becomes available.

Still waiting.

It’s all about the cross-contamination: But isn’t there a better way to describe how bugs spread and make people puke?

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Ever since Sorenne got diagnosed with a shellfish allergy, the shrimp on the barbie are for when she’s at school.

Woman’s hands cleaning prawns at table

The video clip is exactly what weekly faculty meetings were like at Kansas State University, while they ate raw sprouts on Jimmy John’s subs, with about $2 million in annual salaries sitting around the table, chatting about what to do with a 45K staffer.

This study aimed to qualify the transfer of Vibrio parahaemolyticus during the shrimp peeling process via gloves under 3 different scenarios. The 1st 2 scenarios provided quantitative information for the probability distribution of bacterial transfer rates from (i) contaminated shrimp (6 log CFU/g) to non-contaminated gloves (Scenario 1) and (ii) contaminated gloves (6 log CFU/per pair) to non-contaminated shrimp (Scenario 2). In Scenario 3, bacterial transfer from contaminated shrimp to non-contaminated shrimp in the shrimp peeling process via gloves was investigated to develop a predictive model for describing the successive bacterial transfer.

The range of bacterial transfer rate (%) in Scenarios 1 and 2 was 7% to 91.95% and 0.04% to 12.87%, respectively, indicating that the bacteria can be transferred from shrimp to gloves much easier than that from gloves to shrimp. A Logistic (1.59, 0.14) and Triangle distribution (-1.61, 0.12, 1.32) could be used to describe the bacterial transfer rate in Scenarios 1 and 2, respectively. In Scenario 3, a continuously decay patterning with fluctuations as the peeling progressed has been observed at all inoculation levels of the 1st shrimp (5, 6, and 7 log CFU/g). The bacteria could be transferred easier at 1st few peels, and the decreasing bacterial transfer was found in later phase. Two models (exponential and Weibull) could describe the successive bacterial transfer satisfactorily (pseudo-R2 > 0.84, RMSE < 1.23, SEP < 10.37). The result of this study can provide information regarding cross-contamination events in the seafood factory.

PRACTICAL APPLICATION:This study presented that Vibrio parahaemolyticus cross-contamination could be caused by gloves during the shrimp peeling process. The bacterial transfer rate distribution and predictive model derived from this work could be used in risk assessment of V. parahaemolyticus to ensure peeled shrimp safety.

Modeling transfer of vibrio parahaemolyticus during peeling of raw shrimp

February 2018

Journal of Food Science

Xiao X, Pang H, Wang W, Fang W, Fu Y, Li Y

DOI：10.1111/1750-3841.14064 

http://geenmedical.com/article/29411873

Again, 11 sick: Blame the consumer Hong Kong edition

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The Centre for Health Protection (CHP) of the Department of Health is today (January 19) investigating an outbreak of food poisoning affecting 11 persons, and reminded the public to maintain personal, food and environmental hygiene to prevent food-borne diseases.

The patients, comprising one man and 10 women aged 63 to 76, developed abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea and fever about 12 to 26 hours after having lunch at a restaurant at Lau Fau Shan in Yuen Long on January 7.

Five of them sought medical attention, of whom one required hospitalisation but was discharged upon treatment. The stool specimen of that patient tested positive for Vibrio parahaemolyticus. All affected persons are now in stable condition.

‘Something will always be somebody’s last meal’ Does it have to be today?

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My favorite food safety fairytale is along the lines of, we’ve always produced food this way and no one has ever gotten sick.

Because bugs don’t change, food don’t change, people don’t change.

Raw oysters, the renowned aphrodhsiac, is especially prone to fairytale hyperbole.

Delayna Earley of the Island Packet in South Carolina, writes, who doesn’t love a good oyster roast?

“I’ve been doing this all my life and we’ve never had a case of anyone dying from eating an oyster,” Larry Toomer, owner of the Bluffton Oyster Co., said. “We know where our oysters came from because we harvest them, refrigerate them ourselves and then cook them shortly after.”

Toomer says that there is always a risk when consuming any raw food, but the oysters that are harvested off the coast of the Low country typically don’t have bacteria due cleansing nature of the tidal waters they grow in.

“Something will always be somebody’s last meal,” Toomer says. “If you’re immune system is not up to snuff you shouldn’t eat anything raw, whether that is an oyster, or burger or any other type of meat, but something is going to set you off if you’re already sick. But other than that, we shouldn’t worry too much.”

Raw is risky: Oysters strike down victims in Louisiana, Hong Kong

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A Texas woman who spent a day along the Louisiana coast crabbing with friends and enjoying oysters found herself fighting for her life just 36 hours later, KLFY-TV reported.

Jeanette LeBlanc contracted a deadly flesh-eating bacteria called Vibrio that day, resulting in her death a few weeks later.

LeBlanc’s symptoms started out similar to an allergic reaction. In fact, that’s what she suspected it was before doctors told her otherwise. She had red patches of a rash on her legs and experienced respiratory issues before the symptoms worsened, KLFY reported.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the bacteria that causes Vibriosis creates 80,000 cases of illness in the United States each year and 100 deaths. The Vibrio bacteria live in coastal waters, those where oysters also live. The oysters contract the bacteria by filtering water to feed and the bacteria ends up in the tissues of the oyster, then when someone like LeBlanc eats it raw, they also contract the bacteria.

In Hong Kong, the Centre for Health Protection (CHP) of the Department of Health today (December 29) reported its investigations into three food poisoning outbreaks suspected to be related to the consumption of raw oysters in three different restaurants.

They involve:

  1. One man and two women, aged from 25 to 39, who have developed abdominal pain, diarrhea and vomiting about 11 to 50 hours after having lunch (including raw oysters) in a restaurant in Yau Ma Tei on December 17. All sought medical attention;

2.Two women, aged from 36 to 37, who have developed similar symptoms about 30 to 33 hours after having dinner (including raw oysters) in a restaurant in Kowloon Bay on December 19. Both sought medical attention; and

  1. One man and three women, aged from 22 to 24, who have developed similar symptoms about 16 to 59 hours after having dinner (including raw oysters) in a restaurant in Tsim Sha Tsui on December 25.

One sought medical attention.