Who knew?

The largest, most-fatal outbreak of E. coli O157 or other shiga-toxin producing E. coli wasn’t sprouts in Germany in 2011, wasn’t roast beef in Scotland in 1996 or Ontario in 1985, wasn’t Japan in 1996 in radish sprouts.

It was in Xuzhou, China, in 1999: 177 dead, 195 hospitalized with hemolytic uremic syndrome. An estimate of the number sickened was not available.

A new paper by Chinese researchers examining the E. coli O157:H7 virulence factors involved in the outbreak strain dryly notes, “A less well known massive outbreak of O157:H7 occurred in, China, in 1999 … which has only been reported in Chinese journals.”

Those extra languages could really come in handy.

The authors write in PLoS ONE today that,

“The O157:H7 outbreak occurred between April and September and peaked in June, 1999 with 195 HUS cases and 177 deaths from 52 villages of seven counties in Jiangsu and neighboring Anhui province. Of the 195 cases, 167 (85.6%) were over 50 years old with only two less than 20 years old and 121 (62.1%) were female. The National Institute for Communicable Disease Control and Prevention, China CDC, commenced the outbreak investigation on June 28, 1999.

“Three and two strains of O157:H7 were isolated in Xuzhou city from fecal screening of 30 HUS and 25 diarrhea patients respectively. Thirty six sera collected from 42 HUS patients (85.7%) tested positive for IgG against EHEC-hemolysin or O157 lipopolysaccharide. Thus both bacterial and serological data confirmed that the outbreak was caused by O157:H7. The source of the infection was investigated using a case-control sample of 146 HUS patients and 840 healthy individuals, matched in age, sex and residence. No hand-washing before eating, consumption of fruits or vegetables without washing, consumption of leftover foods without heating, no fly-net cover for foods and high density of flies in kitchen were found to be statistically associated with infected patients. Using magnetic beads coated with antibodies against the O antigen, O157:H7 was isolated from six of 67 (9.0%) fly specimens, four of 74 (5.4%) raw meats and three of 83 (3.6%) cooked meats. O157:H7 was also isolated from live animals including 32 of 189 (16.9%) cattle, 50 of 605 (8.3%) pigs, 91 of 590 (15.4%) goats and 52 of 604 (8.6%) chickens raised in courtyards of families with and without HUS patients in the same villages.

“From the epidemiological investigations, the outbreak was mainly associated with peasants living with animals carrying O157:H7 in the household, including goats, pigs, chickens and cattle. Courtyard animals carrying O157:H7 contaminated the surrounding environment through fecal shedding and persons who had poor personal and kitchen hygiene practice were more likely to be infected. It is well established that farm animals are carriers of O157:H7. Additionally we found that 9% of the flies tested were positive for O157:H7 and thus they are important carriers in this outbreak. Flies may not just be mechanical vectors as O157:H7 can multiply inside the fly's mouth and be excreted through fly fecal matter. Therefore poor hygiene and multiple routes of transmission may be the major contributing factors to the massive outbreak. However, increased transmission would have expected to increase number of infections but not higher number of HUS rate and high mortality rate. Host factors may contribute to higher mortality with a disproportional number of HUS cases and deaths in the older age groups. We showed that the outbreak was caused by a new sequence type, ST96.”

Abstract below:

A novel Escherichia coli O157:H7 clone causing a major hemolytic uremic syndrome outbreak in China***
30.apr.12
PLoS ONE 7(4): e36144.
Yanwen Xiong, Ping Wang, Ruiting Lan, Changyun Ye, Hua Wang, Jun Ren, Huaiqi Jing, Yiting Wang, Zhemin Zhou, Xuemei Bai, Zhigang Cui, Xia Luo, Ailan Zhao, Yan Wang, Shaomin Zhang, Hui Sun,Lei Wang, Jianguo Xu
http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0036144
An Escherichia coli O157:H7 outbreak in China in 1999 caused 177 deaths due to hemolytic uremic syndrome. Sixteen outbreak associated isolates were found to belong to a new clone, sequence type 96 (ST96), based on multilocus sequence typing of 15 housekeeping genes. Whole genome sequencing of an outbreak isolate, Xuzhou21, showed that the isolate is phylogenetically closely related to the Japan 1996 outbreak isolate Sakai, both of which share the most recent common ancestor with the US outbreak isolate EDL933. The levels of IL-6 and IL-8 of peripheral blood mononuclear cells induced by Xuzhou21 and Sakai were significantly higher than that induced by EDL933. Xuzhou21 also induced a significantly higher level of IL-8 than Sakai while both induced similar levels of IL-6. The expression level of Shiga toxin 2 in Xuzhou21 induced by mitomycin C was 68.6 times of that under non-inducing conditions, twice of that induced in Sakai (32.7 times) and 15 times higher than that induced in EDL933 (4.5 times). Our study shows that ST96 is a novel clone and provided significant new insights into the evolution of virulence of E. coli O157:H7.

Students travelling home to live in your parent’s basement after graduation today – don’t try this.

Noor Mahmoodr, a 36-year-old citizen of the United Arab Emirates, was detained soon after midnight by undercover officers at a Bangkok airport with a baby bear, a pair of panthers, two leopards and some monkeys - all aged under two months - in his cases.

The man, who was trying to get the creatures onto a first-class flight to Dubai from Suvarnabhumi airport, was charged with smuggling endangered species out of Thailand, according to Colonel Kiattipong Khawsamang of the Nature Crime Police.

He said one of the bags had been abandoned in an airport lounge because the animals were being too noisy.

The animals were taken into the care of local veterinarians.

In early 2008, the Humane Society of the United States released video documenting animal abuse at Hallmark/Westland Meat Packing Co. of Chino, Calif., secretly shot by an undercover employee.

That $100-million-a-year company does not exist anymore – brought down by someone using an over-the-counter video recording device.
In April 2009, Cargill Beef announced it had implemented a third-party video-auditing system that would operate 24 hours a day at its U.S. beef plants to enhance the company’s animal welfare protection systems. All of Cargill’s U.S. plants were expected to have the program in place by the end of 2009.

In Feb. 2010, Cargill announced it would expand its remote video auditing program to monitor food-safety procedures within processing plants.

Last week, a new undercover video investigation by a national animal welfare group claimed to show disturbing conditions at a Texas farm operated by the country's largest egg producer and distributor.


The Humane Society of the United States said that one of their investigators documented a range of filthy, unsanitary conditions while working at a Cal-Maine Foods operation in Texas over a five-week period this fall. A five-minute video produced by the group shows hens confined in overcrowded cages with rotting corpses, dead and injured birds trapped in cages, eggs covered in feces, and escaped hens floating in manure pits.


The images are a stark contrast to the clean white birds and eggs featured in the video on the Cal-Maine corporate website.

On Nov, 19, 2010, The Independent reported that Morrisons became the first U.K. supermarket to promise to install CCTV at its abattoirs to reassure the public. The RSPCA called for other chains to follow suit. The supermarket said CCTV images from its Colne and Turriff abattoirs would be stored for 30 days and made available to the Food Standards Agency (FSA). Spokesman Martyn Fletcher said: "Our customers want to know that animals are treated well through the slaughtering process and we believe installing CCTV cameras is the best way to demonstrate we have the highest possible standards."

Slaughterhouse cruelty has been under the spotlight after Animal Aid captured breaches of welfare laws at six out of seven randomly selected abattoirs – including one supplying organic meat, where pigs were kicked in the face.

September's footage from F Drury & Sons reinforces the suspicion many, if not most, of the 370 abattoirs in England and Wales break the rules.

Speaking on behalf of F Drury & Sons, the Association of Independent Meat Suppliers said the 20-second rule had been designed for religious slaughter when animals are not stunned. "The likelihood of a stunned animal being conscious is extremely small," said its veterinary officer Stephen Lomax. "This is not an animal welfare issue."

He blamed government vets for not alerting owners to the "deplorable" abuse found elsewhere. He said: "There's no excuse for all the self-serving arguments the FSA gives about these vets [monitoring abattoirs] not having enough time. They spend a great deal of time phoning their boyfriends, reading the newspaper or filling in useless forms. The system has failed."

The FSA initially denied illegality at F Drury & Sons, but changed its mind when challenged.

Companies would protect their brand and build trust with the buying public by having their own video to supplement claims of humane handling and food safety.
 

The owners of a U.K. petting zoo accused of animal welfare offences and bad food safety have withdrawn their application for a zoo licence.

Northern Echo reports that Tweddle Children’s Animal Farm, in Blackhall Colliery, County Durham, has also removed some of its more exotic animals.

Earlier this year, the council’s environmental health officers and the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs visited the farm following an undercover investigation by the Captive Animals Protection Society. The charity said it had found traces of E coli and dead animals decomposing near a children’s play area.

It also said the bodies of dead animals, including a meerkat and tortoise, had been stored in a freezer on top of food for animals, while staff working with animals were working in the cafe wearing the same clothes.

Tweedle also did not have the required licence for a zoo.

The council said no traces of E coli were reported but head teachers who may have been planning school visits were warned about its investigation.