Gettin' shiggy wit it: Increase of shigella-linked illnesses in St. Louis
STLtoday reports tonight that there appears to be an Shigella outbreak going on linked to child care centers in St. Louis. Shigellosis is characterized by fever, cramps and may result in bloody diarrhea, but most recover within a week without treatment.
There have been 67 cases of shigellosis from July 1 through Monday, compared to nine cases for all of 2008, according to the St. Louis City Department of Health.
Health officials said four day care centers and one school clustered in south St. Louis city reported illnesses. Officials did not offer other specifics except to say that children ages 4 and younger are most commonly infected.
City health officials sent the shigellosis alert to day cares and schools, where the shigella bacteria is typically spread when people don’t wash their hands properly after using the bathroom or changing diapers. It can also be spread through contact with food. Shigella bacteria can remain in feces for several weeks.
Salmonella and shigella: trying times for British tourists
This isn’t a Chevy Chase-John Candy (right) kind of vacation.
The widow of an elderly British tourist who died after falling ill with salmonella poisoning at a luxury Italian hotel has called for better safety standards at holiday resorts.
The Birmingham Post reports that Jean Appleyard and her husband, Geoffrey, aged 71, were staying at the four-star Grand Hotel in the Gardone resort on the shores of Lake Garda last year when both began to suffer from fever and stomach pains.
An inquest at South Worcestershire Coroners’ Court yesterday recorded a verdict of misadventure after hearing evidence that the salmonella poisoning Mr Appleyard contracted contributed to his death.
Coroner Geraint Williams said:
“Although the hotel seemed very picturesque, there was a very dark side in the kitchen and cellars where there was a virulent contamination of salmonella in the foodstuffs. This was served to the guests and, as a consequence, a large number became ill. Mr Appleyard died because he was not able to withstand this infection.”
The Italian authorities confirmed that salmonella was detected at the hotel.
Mrs Appleyard said,
“We went to the Grand Hotel for a luxury holiday. It is simply appalling that we fell ill and Geoffrey contracted something as serious as salmonella at a hotel like that. Tour operators have to ensure they are doing everything they possibly can to make sure holidaymakers are protected from outbreaks like this.”
Meanwhile, The Independent reports that 50-year-old Julian Hurley from South Yorkshire, U.K., said he was delighted today after being awarded nearly £300,000 compensation from tour operator First Choice following his diagnosis of shigella after eating "poor-standard" food at an all-inclusive hotel in Venezuela in August 2004.
Mr Hurley said.
"When we went to the hotel restaurant I tried a variety of different dishes, which included cooked meats. The food was of an extremely poor standard, a lot of the dishes were undercooked and some of them were almost cold. The impact that this hellish holiday has had on our lives has been devastating. I now struggle to walk long distances and find myself getting tired easily. I am still suffering from symptoms to this day and will do for the rest of my life, which has been very difficult to come to terms with.”
Shigella, E. coli on sugar snaps in Sweden
Eurosurveillance today reports an outbreak of Shigella dysenteriae type 2 infections during May-June 2009 in Sweden, involving 47 suspected cases of whom 35 were laboratory-confirmed.
The epidemiological investigation based on interviews with the patients pointed at sugar snaps from Kenya as the source. Shigella was not detected in samples of sugar snaps. However, Escherichia coli was confirmed in three of four samples indicating contamination by faecal material.
During April to May 2009 outbreaks with Shigella connected to sugar snaps from Kenya were reported from Norway and Denmark. In the three countries trace back of the indicated sugar snaps revealed a complex system with several involved import companies and distributers. In Sweden one wholesale company was identified and connections were seen to the Danish trace back. These three outbreaks question whether the existing international certification and quality standards that are in place to prevent products from contamination by faecal pathogens are strict enough.
No, they’re not.
Shigella from sugar peas in Scandinavia
The peas apparently came from Kenya. But that wouldn’t fit the alliteration.
Eurosurveillance reports that in Norway, shigellosis is a mandatorily notifiable disease, and all isolates are submitted to the NIPH for verification and typing. Around 150 cases of shigellosis are confirmed per year, the majority caused by Shigella sonnei. Only around 10 to 20 of the shigellosis cases reported each year are acquired in Norway, usually as secondary cases caused by faecal-oral transmission in households.
An outbreak investigation was initiated on 27 May by interviewing the four confirmed cases using a trawling questionnaire. On the same day the NFSA inspectors visited the two households where suspected cases were reported and found an unopened package of sugar peas imported from Kenya in one household, and the packing of the same brand of sugar peas in the other. The sugar peas were bought in the same shop. Based on this suspicion, it was decided to focus the interviews on consumption of fresh vegetables and lettuce.
By 16 June, the reference laboratory has registered a total of 20 cases with the outbreak strain of Shigella sonnei, who had not travelled abroad prior to illness onset. The cases live in different municipalities, but mainly in the central and western parts of Norway. The date of onset for the first case was 10 May. All cases were adults except for one teenager, and 16 of them were women. All 20 cases reported to have eaten sugar peas, and there were no other obvious common exposures identified. The majority of the patients had bought the sugar peas in one of the large supermarket chains and only a few in another chain. The NFSA traced the suspected food product and found that all the implicated sugar peas were produced in Kenya. One sample from the unopened package of sugar peas collected in a patient household was positive for Shigella sonnei by both PCR methods, but could not be culture-confirmed.
As a response to our urgent inquiry Denmark reported an increase in the number of domestic Shigella sonnei infections in April and May 2009. They initiated an outbreak investigation to find out if the Danish cases were related to the outbreak in Norway. The investigation in Denmark also pointed at sugar peas as the source of the outbreak, and microbiological investigations (including MLVA typing) to compare the outbreak strains are ongoing.
'Fecal material' at N.Y. Applebee's
Actor John Corbett – Chris on Northern Exposure, Carrie’s boyfriend for awhile on Sex and the City, empathetic husband on The United States of Tara – needs to do a new Applebee’s advert (he’s the voice).
Shigella – it only comes from fecal material.
WSYR-TV is reporting the Onondaga County Health Department in New York state has confirmed seven cases of Shigella in people who recently ate at the Applebee’s in Camillus, and that up to 9,000 people may have been exposed to the bacteria
County Health Commissioner Dr. Cynthia Morrow said Shigella is associated with consuming water or food contaminated with fecal matter.
Those who are confirmed ill ate at the restaurant on either Saturday, March 7th or Sunday, March 8th, but the overall window that the Health Department is looking at is between Sunday, March 1st and Friday, March 20th.
The health department waited until Tuesday to announce the illnesses because it had sent stool samples to the lab, and had just gotten the results back.
Health officials are now testing all employees at the restaurant, which remains open.
How much food poisoning is deliberate?
Not deliberately dumb, or deliberately daft, but deliberate with intent for death – or at least dysentery.
Sweden’s security service Säpo is investigating possible sabotage following an incident which left 140 people at the headquarters of Confederation of Swedish Enterprise (Svenskt Näringsliv) suffering from dysentery.
The victims, which included employees of the association, its members, and other guests, all suffered from the illness caused by the Shigella dysenteriae bacteria after eating in the office’s cafeteria several weeks ago, reports the Veckans Affärer magazine.
According to the Metro newspaper, the group claiming responsibility for the attack is a left-leaning, internet-based forum which had previously staged demonstrations outside of the association’s headquarters.
In Texas, an IHOP restaurant has been closed three times in the past five months for repeated occurrences of what health investigators call a rare Salmonella, type C; over 10 people have been sickened.
Group C is a strain that researchers and health officials hardly ever see and it's so powerful it clings to surfaces and is more resistant to disinfection.
Police have been called in to help with the investigation.
Shigellosis outbreak in Ohio
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Franklin County and Columbus, Ohio are currently suffering from a shigellosis outbreak. Since June 1, the city and Franklin County health departments have recorded 100 cases of infection with Shigella, which causes diarrhea and is easily spread from person to person. This is in stark contrast to the 13 cases reported in 2007.The source of the infection is still unknown, but Columbus Public Health workers are focusing on day-care centers where the disease might be spreading.
Shigellosis can cause diarrhea, which may be bloody, as well as severe dehydration and stomach cramps. The bacteria is typically most severe in the immunocompromised, such as infants and the elderly
Shigella is usually passed from stools to fingers, or through poor hand washing habits. Food
handlers who failed to wash their hands can also transmit it through infected food. Shigella also has been known to contaminate pools, so people should avoid swimming if suffering from diarrhea. The best way to avoid shigellosis is through good hand washing practices.Columbus and Franklin County’s health commissioners, advise the following practices to limit the spread of this infection:
* Wash hands with soap carefully and frequently, especially after going to the bathroom, after changing diapers, and before preparing foods or beverages.
* Do not swim or prepare food for others while ill with diarrhea.
* Dispose of soiled diapers properly and disinfect diaper changing areas after using them.
LA Salad company sues inspection agency over shigella-in-carrots recall
The Los Angeles Salad Company is, according to a Vancouver radio station, suing the Canadian Food Inspection Agency over this summer's massive recall of baby carrots.On Aug. 17, 2007, CFIA issued two warnings about LA Salad baby carrots sold at Costco because they may have been contaminated with shigella. The Agency said at the time that the carrots had already made four people sick, which triggered a subsequent recall in the United States.
The company now says that CFIA's allegations weren't supported by scientific fact and accuses them of shoddy testing. In documents filed in B.C. Supreme Court, the company is claiming damages due to a continued loss of business.
Calgary, what is the problem?
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It only took some bright journalist three days from the initial announcement to figure out that the four sick people with Shigella from baby carrots were in Calgary.Hypothetical risks are a big story in Canada. People actually barfing isn't.
The Calgary Health Region, continuing its Paleolithic-era communications style of blaming consumers, was cited by CBC News as "warning people to wash their hands thoroughly to prevent spread of the bacteria."
So, these four sick people all opened bags of baby carrots from Costco and managed to sicken themselves with the same bacterium cause they didn't wash their hands? It's a ready-to-eat-food. Who comes up with this stuff?
Who, what, where, when, why?
Journalism basics, something I'll be teaching at Kansas State beginning next week and something the ever-evasive Canadian Food Inspection Agency dances around.This time it's a warning that Los Angeles Salad Company Baby Carrots may be contaminated with Shigella.
The release says there have been four reported illnesses associated with the consumption of this product.
No other details, except that the affected product, Los Angeles Salad Company Genuine Sweet Baby Carrots, is labelled as product of Mexico and imported by Los Angeles Salad Company. It is sold in 672 g/1.5 lb plastic bags bearing ITM 50325, UPC 8 31129 00137 7 and Sell By dates up to and including 8 /13 /07.
This product was sold in Costco stores in British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario, Quebec and Newfoundland.
These bureaucrats still aren't that into you.
In 2005, contaminated carrots served over three days on flights out of Honolulu were the likely cause of 45 cases of shigella poisoning across 22 states, Japan, Australia and American Samoa.
