DON’T EAT BAGGED SPINACH. Although this is not related to pandemic flu, I thought it was important enough to alert my fellow fluwikians. An e-coli outbreak has now spread to 10 states: http://tinyurl.com/mmzoh
Thank god my spinach comes from my OWN garden!!
Fox News was just covering the story, and it struck me that he could just as easily have been talking about the bird flu. The repoter stated that because the virus incubates for several days, people already have this bug, and health officials are looking for a way to deal with the health implications because a lot of people may be getting sick. Shepard Smith was professional, laid out the facts and told people to throw their bags of spinach away.
Now, let us all cross our fingers that TPTB are watching the health care system closely to see how it responds to this outbreak if indeed it effects a large number of people. Let us all hope that local officials learn the lessons that they need to learn here.
<BRMM takes off rose colored glasses, gives them a swipe with the back of her shirt, and stickes them back on. One must always have hope.>
OMG!!! I just ate a bowl of bagged spinach 10 minutes ago. Just before I went on line. What should I do?
Thanks. I didn’t watch the video-blocked-,but I did read the info. I guess I will wait and see if I get sick. I have to go out of town tommorrow. Perfect timing. I can’t believe the coincidence of eating the spinach and then seeing the warning of fluwiki immediately after. Ofcourse seeing the warning before I ate it would have been better<grin>. At least if I do get sick, I will know to be careful not to infect others who it might be more dangerous for. The info said it is dangerous for the very young and old. I am neither, so I guess I will be o.k. even in the worse case senario. The info said 5 to 10 day recovery though. ugh!!
prepmaniac. If you go on the USDA or FDA website, you will see a list of food recalls. They will give an update on companies and packaging and best before dates.
They will also have recalled the spinach…so if you are not sure, go right back to your grocery store…inform them of the problem and ask them…if they don’t already know, they will have channels open to them to find out in a hurry…and then you can find out from them pronto.
If you have eaten the contaminated produce, it doesn’t necessarily mean that you will get sick…a lot depends on the load of bacteria in your particular package…
…if you don’t feel comfortable at that time, I would suggest calling your doctor.
Prepmaniac - 16:04
Just watch for the symptoms, and stay calm. Just think, officials had this info since Wednesday, and you just heard about it on Friday. Hmm… 2 days worth of notice might have helped you not to eat that spinach at all!
Blue Ridge Mountain Mom – at 15:37 The repoter stated that because the virus incubates for several days…
If the reporter really said that, then someone needs to let him know that E.Coli is a bacteria, not a virus.
prepmaniac. Not all E. coli bacteria are created equal…most are quite harmless really…you may have some commensal E. coli in your gut right now. /:0)
O.k. All I can find out now is that they are not sure, but they think the bad spinach is from california and they are investigating. I do not live in one of the ten states affected so far. BUT the spinach is from California. Fresh Express. Best if used by Sep 12 G242A15A. A code under the date. I wonder if it will be several days before I know I am sick or just a few hours. I am really only concerned about it because I am to busy to be sick. Monday is much more convenient a time to be sick than the weekend. <grin> Did the reporter mean that the bacteria takes a few days to make one sick?
So of course we live in CT, where there are some cases, and we had BAGGED SPINACH last night with dinner! So far so good. They did say this is a very bad strain that can cause serious complications that’s why they did a blanket notice. I’m guessing that it’s probably a supplier of private label (made for grocery stores) since it’s such a disparate group of states.
Tom DVM @ 16:30
commensal E. coli eeeuuuuu
Tom DVM @ 16:45
Seriously though. Thanks for the info. I think I will be alright. I will see a doc if I get very ill.
CNN now reporting that New York is 11th State reporting e-coli outbreak! CNN.com
Hi everyone. If you want an answer in a hurry, whether or not you have any chance of being infected, take the label of your product back to the store where you bought it and ask to speak to the produce manager…you will have your answer in about ten seconds.
Thanks…you don’t want the E. coli that Laura is talking about…Hope you all stay well down there.
Food poisoning occurs more frequently that we typically measure. One ex-CDC official estimated 266 million cases a year in the U.S. When I saw that in Nicols Fox excellent book, Spoiled, on the food chain, I decided to study some plants that are traditionally known to work against pathogens in the digestive system.
This following list details what I use in combination. Talk to a medical professional before undertaking any treatment.
EHEC is deadly.
NS1 et al.
A study was released a few years ago, I believe indicating that ninety percent of all flu cases each winter are actually do to food poisoning.
I’m not sure in which country the study was done but I would expect the same thing probably in all developed countries.
CNN now has their red Alert banner noting that it has now spread to 20 states. Yikes.
TomDVM,
US based study. I believe that it is very close to accurate. Usually when you hear of a “stomach flu”, you’re seeing a food poisoning case. And we treat them absolutely incorrectly.
Remember that EHEC generates profuse shigella toxin due to a recombination with shigella. The toxin overloads the organs and begins to deteriorate them. Again, like H5N1, you must begin managing the situation before symptoms start and be very aggressive at killing the bacteria and deactivating / eliminating the toxin.
In fact the elimination of the toxin, in my eyes, is more important than just killing the bacteria.
NS1 “In fact the elimination of the toxin, in my eyes, is more important than just killing the bacteria.”
Yep, that’s what I found as well…and to have time you have to control the shock produced by the toxin and guess which drug I used to control that shock…up to and including E. coli case in calves. /:0)
What does EHEC stand for?
The trick actually is to get the shock undercontrol before you kill the bacteria…if you patient is sick and in shock and you kill all the bacteria with some nice IV antibiotics…then you won the war but lose the patients because as those bacteria die they release one massive load of toxin all at the same time.
It doesn’t really matter the cause of the massive insult to the body…the cures are often very similar.
I always believed that the practise of medicine when you are in this much trouble..is like playing a violin…its where the art of medicine comes in…some are virtuoso’s some are not.
By the way, I learned this things the hard way…unfortunately.
TomDVM-
I completely concur with all that you’ve said from 18:55 to 18:58 . . . it directly parallels my experience.
EnteroHemorraghic E. Coli = EHEC, E. Coli producing Shiga toxin, usually O157:H7.
And again, an invader replicates faster than the body can mount a response, generating substantial Cytokinic Dysregulation.
See any parallels.
That EHEC is a new one on me…
“And again, an invader replicates faster than the body can mount a response, generating substantial Cytokinic Dysregulation.”
“See any parallels.”
That is why you treat symptoms first and disease second. Whether it is viral or not doesn’t really matter…you need the antibiotics to control the secondary infections…
…Oh yeah, I forgot…we aren’t going to have any antibiotics to treat the secondary infections in a pandemic…GREAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Background
E. Coli and Shigella: Machiavellian Masqueraders of Taxonomic Treachery
I felt like I was going to die from this form of food poisoning in 2001 after getting contaminated beef from Kefta Kebab at a Syrian restaurant. The recovery period was 30 days until full strength was reached. No residuals at all after proper natural support of the body’s systems.
EHEC will drop toxins faster under anti-biotic pressure. The toxins are what kill you.
It will be the tiny buggers that get us!
o.k. Now I”m worried. Are you saying it could take from three to eight days before I know I am sick from eating spinach? I’m calling the manager of the grocery store right now!
prepmaniac – at 20:55 wrote: “o.k. Now I”m worried. Are you saying it could take from three to eight days before I know I am sick from eating spinach?”
Yes, that’s how long it can take for symptoms to show up. But keep in mind that hundreds of people have eaten bagged spinach over the past few weeks and only a handful have gotten ill. The odds are with you.
But you might want to keep the bag as evidence in case you DO get sick.
prepmaniac – at 20:55
The good thing is that usually this strain either infects of is eliminated quickly. I do not know of any cases of latent infection flaring much later than the initial inoculation.
Please talk to a natural practicioner now about the list of plants I noted earlier. You truly do not want to give this bug a chance to create a shock wave in your body.
Many natural health people have used probiotics heavily, goat yogurt and whatever spices they have at the house in cases of suspected food poisoning.
Don’t wait for symptoms. Nourish your body now and it can fight the bug.
o.k. I will keep it. You said that just in time. I just threw it away. I will retrieve it and put it in the fridge. I called the store. The manager rechecked the letter and list and said he was to pull all bagged spinach. They did not know what code or date is likly to be contaminated, so they were still pulling all of it.
This is another reminder of all the problems tap water that hasn’t been sufficiently disinfected can cause. One of the newscasts I watched said that flooding the field with contaminated water could allow the E coli to be taken up by the plant and not just be on the surface. That means if the water treatment plants have problems we either treat all water used for irrigation in our gardens, or plan to thoroughly boil everything.
Mari. You have raised a very good question. I have never heard a report of plants actually taking the bacteria into them directly…there must be a natural mechanism for preventing it…plants actually have quite sophisticated uptake systems.
The one case that I have heard of is when unethical farmers put watermelons in ponds to soak up extra water and increase the weight…in this case they can absorb bacteria and have caused illnesses.
The usual way for plants to be contaminated with E coli is by contaminated irrigation water.
My whole family has eaten bagged spinach in the last few days, and we’re in an affected state, and we ate an affected brand. So far we’re all fine, but I know it can take a few days to get sick. Fingers crossed. However, we fed spinach to the pet rat about a week ago, and a few days ago she appeared to be very ill. She recovered, but we fed her some spinach again yesterday, before we heard about the recall. If she starts to look sick again, are there any medicines we can buy to treat her at home? (Sorry for the non-flu-related question!)
I heard this on CNN and just looked at their website to double check: The affected packages have “Best if Used by Dates” of August 17 through October 1. The story and a list of recalled brands can be found at http://tinyurl.com/mmzoh.
I marched my unopened plastic wrapped spinach back to the store today for a refund. The guy behind the cash register begrudgingly gave me a refund. I was appalled, speechless, when he assured me that his store’s spinach did not have the E. coli bacteria. Whaaa, he thought he was wearing a lab coat and his register was a lab bench?
I’ll be buying from the local farmer’s markets from now on.
What would Popeye have said about this?!?
I’m Popeye the sailor man
I’m Popeye the sailor man
I’m appearing on Oprah
‘cuz I eats me okrah
I’m Popeye the sailor man.
The allergist we see for my daughter recommends products that contain “bifidus” bacteria. It is the healthy bacteria that lives in the lower digestive. Regular yogurt only has acidophilus (sp?) and that doesn’t live long enough to reach the lower digestive system. Speaking from years of experience with extreme digestive difficulties, I have tried the new yogurt Dannon has—Activa—and it does amazing things for the digestive system. Perhaps large doses of this may help combat some of the “bad” bacteria before you get too sick???
Oh, another suggestion! I began taking regular doses of wild oregano (it must have P73 on the labeling to assure it is actually wild oregano.) The book I read on it claims that bacteria can’t live in the presence of the wild oregano. I spent the summer struggling with MRSA and in the last three weeks I have felt like a new person I have been feeling so great! Perhaps this may help ward off the Ecoli ?? :)
strange.. i tought spinach was uneatable in raw format. its need to be heated right? And if heated properly the ecoli should be no problem..
We did have a similar outbreak half a year ago. Some kids died. After many months the source was identified as salted meatprodukts that was not inteded to be heated. It was a wakeup call. Many did not remeber the old “kitchen lesson” from primary school. We needed new campaigns to learn people propper hygiene and heating rules in cooking…
Urdar-Norge-at 05:43
Spinach can be cooked in a pan with bacon and its greese, boiled or steamed, but it is very good raw. I prefer raw. I use it just as you would lettuce. Most restaurants use mushrooms, bacon bits, cheese and a slightly sweet bacon dressing for spinach salad. I don’t like sweet dressing , so I prefer Ranch and I use typical ingerdients in my spinach salad. Since none of the vitamins are cooked out this way, I thought I was eating something very healthy.
To be safe it has to be heated to 180 degrees, which, would basically kill off the spinach also. Better to be safe and just avoid it all for now. If you have a Popyee craving buy the fresh, loose kind, not the bagged. And, even though they say it is washed, it’s a good idea to always wash your lettuce anyway, even the bagged kinds.
LauraB - at 07:13
Good advice. I still have 3 to 7 days to find out if I am sick. I think from now on I will avoid everything bagged and stick with loose. It would be bad for people who are sick from spinach if they had to sip. I wonder if the loose kind is safe, though. Does the plant itself contain the bacteria from the water?
the spinach is probably contaminated by the fertilizer, bagged or not, if its from the same farm it is a risk.
I belived that spinach had to be heated due to its high nitrit levels, but it seem to be a question of reheating, not raw..
Actually Urdar-Norge, it could have been infected by bird droppings. Interesting…….
“One thing they can’t control, however, is waste from birds and other infected wildlife that might contaminate fields.”
Has anyone ever thought that this could happen with bird flu too? If you can become infected through direct contact with droppings. Couldn’t produce become infected?
http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1535476,00.html?cnn=yes
if you eat via your nose perhaps ;-) but as far as we know, no one has getten birdflu by eating.
That’s good news, but E-Coli is pretty yucky too. See I always thought food grown in a nice field outside way better than food grown in a factory, but now I may have to rethink. Especially since the source of this infection is an organic spinach.
Urdar-Norge - at 08:53
I think some cases of a group of older men got bf from drinking the blood of infected chickens. Also, some tigers, cats and a dog got bf from eating diseased chickens.
nature is like that,our problem is the lack of hygiene, and more vicious bacterias due to our uncritical usage of antibiotica… :-(
when you eat a raw bird with feathers, its easy to imagine a load of dust carried virus getting into the airways..
Good point.
I think there is a flu prep lesson in here somewhere - try and stockpile some antibiotics if you can. What if we had to SIP, eletricity went off and some people ended up eating spoiled food? You know that’s going to happen.
I had e coli once. It happened when my roommate was out of state, the only other person I could call was down with flu, and I was too sick to get my antibiotics which were two blocks away at the pharmacy. They would not deliver, even for a $200 cash bribe under the table with lots of begging included (Thank God, more places deliver nowadays). I could not walk more than a few steps without vomiting and was severely dehydrated. Even talking on the telephone or climbing the stairs made me vomit, so I slept on the couch. I could not find anyone to help me and I just couldn’t get to those antibiotics. Finally, after several days, someone finally got off their backside and got my meds. (You have to take into account, other people may not be willing to drop everything and help you). It was the most frightening experience of my life - I have never been so sick. The above is a perfect example of why people should try to SIP in groups if they know trustworthy people, or make some arrangement in your neighborhood for people to watch out for each other.
I learned a few things from this: a) don’t live far away from friends and relatives; b) don’t count on other people outside your home to help you - while it may seem obvious that it’s not going to kill anybody to help you for 20 minutes, that doesn’t mean they’re going to do it; c) keep some cash around (even though it didn’t help that time) d) save whatever antibiotics you can if at all possible. After one day of antibiotics, I was well enough that I could’ve ridden in a taxi to the pharmacy if I really had to, even though I was still very sick.
In the event of a SIP, I could really see food poisoning becoming an issue if there was intermittent electricity, and people trying to make their small food stores stretch. Something to consider.
Urdar-Norge – at 08:53
if you eat via your nose perhaps ;-) but as far as we know, no one has getten birdflu by eating.
Incorrect.
There were several cases in Vietnam and Thailand of victims getting avian influenza from undercooked poultry.
It had nothing to do with their noses.
So what antibiotics are they using to treat the H157 infections ?
O157:H7
LA E: “In the event of a SIP, I could really see food poisoning becoming an issue if there was intermittent electricity, and people trying to make their small food stores stretch. Something to consider.”
You’re absolutely right. Without the capability to ensure that opened foods stay below 40 degrees, I’ll have to choose whether to throw food away or eat too much at one time, unless I can find a way to share safely. 28oz cans of meat (what was I thinking?) are too much for us to eat in one sitting. Pre pan-flu, we routinely cook up more than can be eaten at a time, and then work on it until it’s gone.
If you’re cooking just the amount that can be eaten in one sitting, and dry beans are a staple in your diet, you’ll be spending four hours PER DAY cooking beans. Waste of fuel. (Beans are one example, pick your own.) Also takes a lot of time, and the more you’re often cooking the more you’re advertizing that you are prepped.
I don’t have / don’t want a generator and am not situated well for solar, so this is a problem I haven’t solved yet. A cooling method used in Afica is a clay pot within a larger pot separated by sand that’s kept wet. The evaporation cools the inner pot. I suppose it’s worth a try to rig something like this up and monitor the temperature.
Blackbird
I just rececntly gave this some thought also. I decided that while I had power, (refrigeration and water) I would use more of the dried beens and the from scratch rice (that takes a lot of water just to wash) while my family sip. I would save the smaller cans that are easy to prepare and would be consumed in one sitting for when there was no electricity. (and no water). At least in the winter, I am going to try to rig something outside to store food to keep it cool. I think smaller cans is the way to go during no power though.
Oh yes. I’m still strong to the finish. Not sick from eating me spinach.
I found the local paper yesterday interesting. A local girl was one of the victims of the ecoli outbreak but the paper reported she was sick August 5th.
The paper also said that they are expecting more cases. The article doesn’t say when the stores pulled the spinach but it sounds like it is recently. Also says as of Friday no one had come in for a refund at either store. BTW paper says she is recovered.
Does anyone know how these kinds of cases are linked together through out the country? Seems like August 5th was awhile back. I am wondering because if a BF patient should show up in one area and one in another and another would it take this long for anyone to figure that out? Maybe this is a stupid thought on my part but it does make me curious.
Lets examine some facts here. Natural Selection Foods LLC is a holding company, based in San Juan Bautista, Calif., and known for Earthbound Farm and other brands. I grew up in California and lived there until recently. I have seen laborers in the fields around San Juan Bautista, California, indeed all over California. I have also seen many a Mexican farm laborer who will take a shortcut when it comes to restroom “facilities” while working a field. Many farm laborers, and landscapers as well, in California are Mexican, many are illegals.
It has been my experience that they are often not at all sanitary in their toilet habits. I have seen Mexican landscapers, go to the bathroom behind a bush then go eat lunch without washing! It is disgusting to say the least. I have also witnessed farm labores do the same. These men are defacating in peoples yards and next to food intended for human consumption whenever they can get away with it even when clean facilities are nearby. They are a threat to the health of everyone in this country. Those that are here legally need to be better educated and monitored until they change their habits and those that are illegal…that is a whole other issue for a different forum.
I am not making these statements out of prejudice. This is what I have seen. E Coli comes from body waste and that does not get into a field of spinach or your front yard by itself.
E. Coli does not come from the body waste of only humans. It exists in the intestinal tract of all mammals (it plays an important role in digestion). That is one of the reasons that commercial fruit packers (at least the ones I know) will not accept peaches or apples that are retrieved from the ground (“grounders”). They must be picked from the tree. Too many animals (feral and domestic) can get into orchards and contaminate the ground with their feces. Even damaged or mis-shapen fruit that is destined for juice must be picked from the tree, lest it be contaminated with E. Coli (remember Odwalla?) That is also why most good farmers do not allow cattle to graze on the grass/weeds between tree rows. Their feces just adds to the coliform colonization on the ground.
Blame migrant workers if you wish, but the odds are that the contamination of a crop such as spinich came from feral animals in the fields, not from the workers.
You may be right and in this case I certainly hope that it is not humans to blame. I just know what I have seen and seen far too often.
prepmaniac – at 07:12.
I agree with your approach to potential lack of power / refrigeration. Summer’s problem will be food spoilage, and the upside is possible fresh greens (depending on one’s situiation). Winter’s is keeping people warm, but the upside is that it will be easier to keep food cold.
Influenza2 wow-if there were some cases already on August 5th, it sure took them a long time to make it public. Reminds of the WHO updates.
blackbird – at 02:39 - I posted my results of cooling by a clay pot within a clay pot system in a dry climatehere. Don’t count on it cooling enough to prevent food poisoning in the summer. If nighttime temperatures get below 40 F, the humidity is low, and daytime temperatures aren’t above 60 F, it might help. I think I’ll try that experiment myself when the temps cool down enough here.
worrywart – at 11:24
Influenza2 wow-if there were some cases already on August 5th, it sure took them a long time to make it public. Reminds of the WHO updates.
---
Yeeeea.
See a pattern ?
Dennis. You are right with all of your comments.
One thing though, E. coli 0157 is the only one that is highly pathogenic and can kill usually the young and the elderly but can cause life-limiting complications in the rest…in a sense the effects or its toxins would be similar to the ‘cytokine storm’ we have been discussing.
E. coli 0157 comes from the digestive tract of cattle and is a major problem in cattle…fatal diarrhea in calves, toxic mastitis in Dairy Cattle…in both cases the animals can die in less than six hours from being perfectly normal and healthy…this is not an unusual finding.
As far as the contaminated apples go…it is usually because cattle have pastured and pooped under the apple trees and the apples that fell from these trees have been picked up to make unpasturized apple juice etc…in other words there is an animal connection here too.
Most E. coli 0157 either comes through manure as I said or contaminated pond drainage water from cattle being used for irrigation…direct contamination of green leafy vegetables although it can also happen with fruits and particularly strawberries. Cryptosporidia (parasite) infections from strawberries occur the same way.
I know of no examples of bacteria being directly uptaked into the plant rather than surface contamination with irrigation water…
…except alfalfa sprouts grown on contaminated soil…I am not sure if the bacteria is uptaked or splashed on the plant.
Plants do have rather sophisticated means to keep bacteria from entering through normal uptake of water…I believe.
Tom DVM – at 12:51 - I know of no examples of bacteria being directly uptaked into the plant rather than surface contamination with irrigation water…
It’s highly likely that the news report I saw saying that the E coli bacteria were not just on the surface of the spinach leaves involved newscasters making assumptions about plants that aren’t correct.
I’d like to hear from a plant expert - can plants incorporate bacteria such as E coli into their tissue, or is bacterial contamination really only on the surface of the leaves, stems, roots, etc.
Thank you, Mari – at 11:46. That’s what I thought about the clay pots. Getting below that magic 40 degree temperature needed for refrigeration is challenging without cheap and plentiful energy, at least in many/most climates and seasons.
We just learned that when our refrigerator stopped working a few weeks ago. My next house will have a year-round stream for water and cooling. :-)
One thought I had about big cans of meat — CAN them after opening, into smaller portions to preserve them. That’ll still take some fuel but it will extend the life of the product. It’s odd re-thinking basically everything about how we live.
I’m going to be running experiments with my solar oven to see how long it takes to go from room temperature (~70 F) to 140 F for various things that could spoil, such as spaghetti sauce, canned beef stew, and various casseroles. My best bet might be to open that can of tuna, roast beef, or beans, eat part as a cold filling in a sandwich at 10 am and put the rest in a small casserole in the solar oven to be eaten in the evening.
the dobbel claypot keeps fresh vegatbeles last uptil a week longer in afrika, a great way to store food vegetables. Easy to build
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2006/08/mohammed_bah_ab.php
BirdGuano, you are corect, I did refer to the fact that if birdpoo in farm fields was getting people sick, we would have a total diferent number of cases.. Eating a wery fresh and not propper cooked chicken with H5N1, or drinking its blood (that has to be very fresh) will of course get you infected.
correction.. between 12 and 27 days longer storage, that is wery impressing for such a technolygy. you need sunshine, claypots, a towel and water.. there you go :)
Well, I just did a Google search on “plant bacteria water contamination” and this is one of the articles that came up. Apparently E coli bacteria CAN travel to the plant tissue through the roots.
Here’s an update on the nationwide recall of bagged spinach from www.emergencyemail.org (thanks to DennisC (I think!) for posting a link to this service, it’s wonderful!). It lists all of the brand names involved…
http://www.emergencyemail.org/newsemergency/anmviewer.asp?a=136&z=1
Although I think that this is probably a natural or accidental case of contamination, the authorities need to consider all possibilities.
Today is the fifth anniversary of the mailing of the first wave of anthrax letters in 2001. The statements of TPTB that are meant to ‘reassure’ us are almost identical to those they made in early October 2001, when they were emphatically denying that there was any link to bioterrorism following the death of Bob Stevens from AMI in Florida.
What they are saying now:
There is no indication that the outbreak was deliberate
What they were saying then:
We have no reason to believe at this time this was an attack at all
And:
There is no evidence that Bob Stevens was the victim of terrorism
And:
And the CDC, etc. wonder why people are suspicious of their pronouncements. This doesn’t help their credibility when it comes to panflu issues either.
NS1 “In fact the elimination of the toxin, in my eyes, is more important than just killing the bacteria.”
If I had eaten something suspect and wasn’t sure if it was going to make me sick, I think I would try a large glass of water with 2 heaping tablespoons of psyllium fiber and a big pinch of grapefruit seed extract. Not an expert on this at all, but it seems like moving the possibly contaminated material out quickly might prevent it from getting into the system. Does anyone know if this would be a good idea or not?
Urdar-Norway – at 18:17 AND you need sand!! That’s what ‘wicks’ the water away causing the evaporation process to work!
Mari – at 13:40
Good idea, thanks for the suggestion. I was thinking of canning large amounts of leftovers but your solution is simpler and better.
Now where did I put those spinach seeds….
Looking for the greenhouse website again….
Gardening seems a lot less like work when compared to the threat of E-Coli.
Sarge at 16:22, while terrorism is ALWAYS a possibility, I think it’s unlikely in this case. E. coli is not normally fatal… it seems that terrorists would use something a little more deadly, and would choose a product that is more widely ingested (let’s face it, raw spinach is probably not eaten by a huge percentage of the population). I think this is just an “oops” where spinach in the field was contaminated with fresh manure, or that there was some breakdown in the cleaning process.
Poppy Gardening seems a lot less like work when compared to the threat of E-Coli.
Gardening seems a lot less like work when compared to kidney dialysis.
Many years ago in Mexico we were told to avoid eating any produce that can’t be peeled, (cabbage, lettuce…) unless it is thoroughly cooked. Maybe a good idea here now? It’s a shame to give up salads though. How about raw veggies marinated in vinegar? Would that make it safer?
One thing this does is make you think about what greens to grow next year. I know I’m going to be concentrating on greens that can be eaten either raw or cooked (spinach, New Zealand spinach, bok choy). (Turnip greens and mustard greens have a lot of vitamins etc, but I’ve never liked how they smell.) I suppose you could cook lettuce, but don’t think there would be much left after it wilts.
“How about raw veggies marinated in vinegar? Would that make it safer?”
Lorelle. This is a very nasty bug…the only thing that ensures its destruction is heat…thorough cooking of hamburger meat or pasturization of milk etc.
You can’t wash it off and I don’t think vinegar would have much effect on it…definitely something you don’t want to be infected with.
I think I had some of it in a mix, and am wondering how long before you can be sure you have recovered safely. I only had very mild diarrhea and no real nausea, but definite aches in my back and a profound sense of being tired. Since it was a mix, there wasn’t much spinach, so I probably did not get much, but I ate it twice about a week apart because I did not know what the problem was.
It’s been over a week now, and I feel a bit tired but otherwise pretty OK.
E coli outbreak spreads to 114 patients in 21 states
Lisa Schnirring Contributing Writer
Sep 18, 2006 (CIDRAP News) – The number of people affected by a nationwide Escherichia coli O157:H7 outbreak, apparently linked to fresh spinach, has climbed to 114 in 21 states, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said today.
Infections involving the virulent strain have claimed one life and led to hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), which can cause kidney failure and death, in 18 patients, said David Acheson, MD, chief medical officer of the FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, at a press conference this afternoon. Nationwide, he said, 60 patients have been hospitalized with the illness.
Today’s case count is more than double the 50 cases the FDA reported when it first warned about the outbreak on Sep 14. At that point there were eight cases of HUS.
A second death possibly linked to the outbreak, that of a patient from Ohio, has not been confirmed as of today, said Acheson.
The FDA has advised consumers to avoid eating fresh spinach or any products that contain fresh spinach, because early evidence suggested that bagged fresh spinach was the only food that all patients had in common.
Rinsing contaminated spinach with water or other cleaning solutions won’t destroy the E coli, said Acheson, because the organism can get inside the plant.
People who experience diarrhea after eating fresh spinach or salad blends containing fresh spinach should contact their healthcare provider and ask that their stool sample be tested for O157:H7, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said in a press release yesterday.
Recalls expand Natural Selection Foods of San Juan Bautista, Calif., yesterday recalled all of its products that contain spinach with best-if-used-by dates between Aug 17 and Oct 1. The recall affects 31 different brands. Natural Selection products are distributed in the United States, Canada, and Mexico.
In a press release yesterday, Natural Selection Foods voiced its concern for people who are ill and said that so far, packaging retained by patients is only from its nonorganic spinach products.
At a news conference yesterday, Acheson said samples from the states matched genetically and that an investigative team from California and the FDA has been gathering grower and distribution information. Indications so far are that contaminated spinach came from California, he said today.
In the preliminary analysis, the team determined that a separate company, River Ranch, had obtained bulk mixed spring greens for its products from Natural Selections Foods. The FDA said River Ranch is recalling its spring mix, which contains spinach. Three River Ranch brands are involved: Farmers Market, Hy Vee, and Fresh and Easy.
The team will be looking at sources of E coli infection including irrigation, harvest conditions, agricultural production, food storage conditions, topography, and wild bird activity, Acheson said, adding that the FDA will investigate all possibilities, including terrorism.
“There’s no indication that the contamination was deliberate, but if we see things that don’t add up, we’ll pursue that possibility,” he said.
Serious health concerns Acheson reported that the E coli outbreak is one of the largest in US history. He said he was particularly alarmed by the number of patients who developed HUS. The O157:H7 strain produces a toxin that typically causes bloody diarrhea and abdominal cramps but no fever.
Of the infected patients, 75% are women, Acheson said today, adding that women are likely to have greater exposure to fresh spinach. He said the age range of the patients is from 20 to 64 years.
The infection resolves in 5 to 10 days but causes HUS in 2% to 7% of patients. Children and older people are most likely to develop HUS.
Acheson estimated that people’s exposure to spinach dropped late last week, and with an average 7-day incubation period for the infection, he predicted that new cases will begin to drop off by the end of this week.
Just saw on the news, that the farms had been warned by the FDA a whole year ago, that this could happen. They apparently didn’t do anything about it.
Commonground
Thank you for the update. I am following this with great interest. I am not worried though. I feel fine. It has been three days now since I ate the dreaded spinach. Today is 4. This has been very educational. I was told before that food poisoning symptoms usually show up within hours or the next day. I am glad to be educated.
Here’s something odd- I was at our local grocery store and they had all their spinach and ‘spring mix’ bagged salads for $2 a bag. I got excited and bought several bags. I told my friend about this great deal, and she told me that her regular store (a different chain) also had their bagged spinach marked way down. Imagine my surprise when e.coli hits the news. Of course, I threw away all my newly purchased bags, and advised my friend to do the same. I can’t help but wonder if the grocery stores saw it coming and tried to sell the spinach quickly before they had to pull it from the shelves?
Here’s something for you to think about: if you drive through the great Central Valley of California, the nation’s garden, or any of the other large agribusiness centers around the country, you will see nary a “portajohn” within a day’s drive. Where do you think that the agricultural workers “go” to do their business?
Melanie – at 11:24 --- Hey girl! Welcome back. But on my first post to you, I have to slightly disagree. What the owners do now is keep the port-a-pottys on a trailer behind a truck. They’re usually parked under a tree or some overhang to keep them a little cooler nowadays.
The reason for the trailer rig is so the owner/farmer doesn’t have to pay to have the Port-a-Potty company come out and pick them up…he can just drive to the pump site and exchange them for clean “restrooms”.
What we normally see now is 2–4 of these setups parked around the edges of the fields. CA law requires that they not be within 50 feet of the edge of any agricultural area
From Commonground’s post:
“At a news conference yesterday, Acheson said samples from the states matched genetically…
“There’s no indication that the contamination was deliberate, but if we see things that don’t add up, we’ll pursue that possibility,” he said.”
GRRRRRRRRRR!
IF there is an identical genetic match, AND IF there isn’t a single point source where they can identify sewage-contaminated water being used to irrigate, wash or mist - then I would be STRONGLY suspicious of deliberate contamination. Shades of The Dalles, Oregon.
OTOH, even if it was not “deliberate”, and a MAJOR produce grower in the US is using untreated wastewater for agricultural processing - of food that is meant to be consumed uncooked - then somebody ought to be charged with homicide, assault and reckless endangerment, IMHO. “Negligently” and Recklessly” are elements of culpability, just like “Intentionally and Knowingly”. A lawsuit doesn’t cut it. This is criminal.
The pussy-footing language being used here by TPTB would be comedic if it weren’t for the hundreds of people who are sick, becoming disabled or dying. Again, what does this say about their credibility when they are talking about pandemic disease?
Sarge. Well said!! Thanks
Sarge - Thank You for your post. How can TPTB get away with this pussy-footing? I find it very very disturbing - to say the least - and we are talking about Spinach. This is also the very first time they have mentioned this aspect:
“There’s no indication that the contamination was deliberate, but if we see things that don’t add up, we’ll pursue that possibility”.
This whole episode is a great example of why H5N1 is going to smack and shock the hell out of us.
Let’s say the point of contamination is patient “0″, and all the bags of spinach are the first generation of the spread.
114 cases in 21 states. TPTB being several days behind the curve. (And the 1st generation went to a supermarket and spread it around before falling ill).
Commonground -
I took about a week for TPTB to turn around from “He got it from drinking stream water” to “it was a biological attack” in October 1981 (my post at 16:22 yesterday). In the meantime, at least one guy (Charles Curseen, I believe), dies due IMHO to a low index of suspicion for anthrax by the treating physician. The turn-around didn’t happen until there were so many cases that the minimalist interpretation of events simply collapsed. By that time, the panic had spread to a million times the actual impact, until yours truly and his confederates were running day and night for weeks responding to every instance of spilled coffee creamer, baby powder and drywall dust. The damage to credibility still persists and to this day taints everything I hear from CDC and the other PTB.
Maybe I’m conflating too much, but it just seems to me part of a pattern of thinking, how do I describe this? - whereby causes and effects are minimalized, hammered into a smaller package, made mentally managable. I perceive this pattern in many areas relating to panflu - like the optimistic attack and CFR rates for starters.
Bottom line for me is, when TPTB say ‘don’t worry, we have it under control’, I grab my lifejacket and head for the lifeboat station.
Correction -
1981 = 2001. What was I thinking? Sorry!
Sarge - ya know, you have hit the nail on the head. The cause & effect are minimalized, hammered into a small package, made mentally managable. Some people call it denial. But it blows my mind that the PTB are carrying on this way. Maybe that alone, is why they won’t disclose the truth. If everyone realized just how alone we REALLY ARE - they would either flip out, or our democracy would crumble.
And furthermore:
“In a press release yesterday, Natural Selection Foods voiced its concern for people who are ill and said that so far, packaging retained by patients is only from its nonorganic spinach products.”
What has organic/non-organic got to do with it? Do you expect us to keep eating your product just because you claim it’s organic and you charge twice as much for that label? That is a non-sequitur. Either your product was sabotaged, or you practiced inexecusably careless standards of sanitation.
“He said he was particularly alarmed by the number of patients who developed HUS.”
Gee - it’s almost like someone selected a particularly virulent strain to contaminate the product. Nah, couldn’t be. That’s just silly. Isn’t it?
prepmaniac – at 06:39
CIDRAP says average 7-day incubation period for the infection. Please be vigilant - you’re not quite out of the woods yet.
http://tinyurl.com/hqeo6
Yesterday it was announced that a first case of E-coli was linked to the outbreak in my home state (Illinois), VERY close to where I live.
And for the information challenged (scientific types feel free to correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t think I am):
E. coli - the species name coli, as is coliform bacteria, derives from colon (and not the punctuation mark) - that part of the large intestine that gathers and periodically expells fecal boli in the process of solid waste elimination - where you ought to be getting ‘scoped if you are over 50 - the place where such flora flourish.
IOW, if this WASN’T an act of sabotage, then it would seem you sprayed untreated sh*t on our food. If that doesn’t make people want to gather up pitchforks, torches and lawyers, then I don’t know what would.
The Sarge at 15:08 - I’ve got a combination Sinus Infection and Bronchitis and I can’t think straight. But you had me going with 1981! Totally confused, but blamed it on the illness…..
La Salle County (Illinois) Woman gets E. coli
Comment on this story STEPHANIE SZUDA, stephanies@mywebtimes.com, (815) 431–4087
A La Salle County resident tested positive for an E. coli strain associated with pre-packaged fresh spinach, making this the first case in Illinois, said Jenny Barrie, LaSalle County health department health educator.
The elderly woman was hospitalized about a week ago, with hemolytic uremic syndrome, a form of kidney failure associated with the E. coli strain, said Melaney Arnold, spokeswoman for the Illinois Department of Public Health.
Hemolytic uremic syndrome can lead to stroke, seizures and death, according to the La Salle County Health Department.
The patient’s name and location were not released due to confidentiality.
The source of the resident’s outbreak is unknown and subject to an investigation by the IDPH, Arnold said.
-snip-
The FBI says it is monitoring the situation as a precautionary measure.
http://tinyurl.com/zf2tn
http://tinyurl.com/gguoh (excerpt):
How Ready-to-Eat Spinach Is Only Part of the E. Coli Problem
A food safety expert says it likely came from processing the produce right in the fields, a practice that’s become much more common
E. Coli: Anatomy of an Outbreak
Posted Friday, Sep. 15, 2006
When the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a warning to consumers on Thursday about E. coli contamination in bagged spinach, it didn’t come as a surprise to Michael Doyle. So far, about 100 people have fallen ill and one death has been connected to the dangerous E. coli 0157:H7 bacterial infection, and the director of food safety at the University of Georgia says that outbreaks like this one will only continue if produce manufacturers don’t change their practices.
E. coli 0157 is a particularly nasty strain of the E. coli that lives and thrives in our digestive tract. Animals such as cows tolerate 0157 far better than people, and often shed the bacteria in their feces. The bacteria can then infect crops such as lettuce, spinach, onions, or even apples when contaminated manure is used as fertilizer, or when contaminated water is used to irrigate fields. Most recently, E. coli 0157 found in bagged salads packaged by Dole sickened over two dozen people in 2005.
These outbreaks, warns Doyle, are an inevitable by-product of the way that many fruit and vegetable manufacturers have streamlined their production — and cut costs — by doing some of the processing of their ready-to-eat produce right in the fields, and not in the more controlled atmosphere of a factory. He sees it as a dangerous practice that could contribute to contamination. “Two to three years ago, I was asked to go out and view what was going on in the fields when there was an outbreak associated with a fast food restaurant chain from their cut-up lettuce,” he told TIME.” Every company at the time was using the same concept to process head lettuce — they would core the lettuce in the field, remove the outside leaves, and put it in chlorinated water. The goal is to reduce costs, because you don’t have to take the waste from the factory and bring it back to the field. The problem is, they are working out in the dirt. There are so many different ways that E. coli can get into the food this way.”
The Sarge – at 13:59
How do you know about Rajneesh?
All I can say is that you have an excellent breadth of study.
Commonground:
FBI is ‘monitoring’ are they? How about trying a new thing - it’s called an “investigation”.
From Dictionary.com:
Noun -
“1. the act or process of investigating or the condition of being investigated. 2. a searching inquiry for ascertaining facts; detailed or careful examination
—Synonyms 1, 2. scrutiny, exploration. Investigation, examination, inquiry, research express the idea of an active effort to find out something. An investigation is a systematic, minute, and thorough attempt to learn the facts about something complex or hidden; it is often formal and official.
IMHO a crime has been committed here, or at least there is the strong indicator of a crime - the corpus delicti exists. The degree is what is in question - is it murder (intentional) or manslaughter (reckless/negligent)? Try your bird poop defense on the jury - see if they buy it, because I don’t.
NS1 -
Bioterrorism is part of my portfolio. The Rajneesh incident was S. typherium if I recall correctly? The source of the outbreak wasn’t known until long afterward, when someone blabbed. PH authorities wrote it off as natural - deja vu, no?
There was a documented case of a Shiga-toxin bug being deliberatley introduced into baked goods, except that it was an actual Shigella spp. and on a very small scale. Female lab worker in Texas, if memory serves. Had a beef with the co-workers. “Here, let’s be friends. I baked some muffins. Help yourselves…”
Pattern of E. Coli Outbreaks Is Seen From The New York Times Late Edition - Final
[snip]
BB -
“Currently, there is nothing in the epidemiology to consider this deliberate.”
Comment:
That is, other than the observation by Acheson himself that there seemed to be an unusually high number of hemolytic urinary syndrome cases associated with the outbreak. An unexpectedly severe clinical manifestation is a primary factor in raising the index of suspicion for a deliberate attack.
Even so, granting for the moment that this is not a deliberate attack - if there is a sufficient base of cases by which to measure the epidemiological factors of this outbreak, what does that say? IMO, it means that there have been far too many instances of growers and processors ‘washing’ my food with feces, about which they have been amply and repeatedly warned. You wouldn’t stick your face into a puddle in a pig sty and drink, would you? So why is it OK for you to spray that effluent on my salad - to pump water out of a ditch in a pasture? So you can save a couple of cents by not having to truck my veggies back to the plant and wash it with clean, treated, potable water? And what has the vaunted FDA been doing to correct the problem? Issuing stern letters. Oh my! “Now go away or I shall taunt you a second-a time-a!”
Go to jail. Go directly to jail. Do not pass GO. Do not collect the $200.00.
I’m not going to argue the point with you, since this isn’t really the board to do that on. But I will say that I defend the farming practices in the Salinas and Central Valleys, considering that the California agriculture laws and check/balances are some of the most stringent in the nation. Salinas, even though it is one of the prime growing areas in the country, has for years had problems with bacteria on some of the crops grown there.
I don’t believe this was deliberate, I don’t believe this was caused intentionally, and I don’t believe it’s man-made. The irrigation water for these fields is not pumped out of ditches in pastures; it is pumped from huge utility tanks that have been checked and treated for contamination
BB-
I don’t want to get into an argument with you either. I sincerely respect your views and value your opinions.
However, people are dead and crippled here. TPTB seem to me to have been entirely feckless in preventing this and prior outbreaks. I’m sorry, but to keep coming back to this particular region, for this particular issue, is a bit of a problem. The failures of the public health and food safety officials to effectively address the trouble is not merely embarassing, but lethal. There is a self-evident deadly flaw in either the physical or regulatory process, or both. I have to refer back to Commonground’s post at 15:46.
Alas, the market will eventually correct the problem if the people and entities involved do not. Maybe not this incident, but at some point, “California produce” may become associated in the public mind with “disease”. It would be in everyone’s best interest to head that off ASAP. That the Chi-Chi’s restaurant chain went out of business was in no small part because they were hit with the Hepatitis-A virus contaminated green onions.
The linkage back to panflu in all of this is the credibility, or lack thereof, that public health officials bring to the table when making pronouncements, recommendations and edicts concerning panflu or any other emerging disease. Repeated instances of blatant failure to contain, control and mitigate or, merely conveying an impression of lack of seriousness taints any risk/crisis communication strategy. This in turn precludes gaining the all-important public trust necessary for voluntary compliance, without which any pandemic control strategy is doomed ab initio.
I will go away from this now, as I don’t want to make an enemy of BB or any other Wikian, all of whose opinions I respect. ‘Nuff said, I suppose.
The linkage back to panflu in all of this is the credibility, or lack thereof, that public health officials bring to the table when making pronouncements, recommendations and edicts concerning panflu or any other emerging disease.
Agreed. The problem I see, as in the Chi-Chi’s restaurant issue, is that so much of our food is imported, and at this point, there is no way to check each and every leaf of lettuce, or stand of onions, or every apple or plum that crosses through customs.
That same type of problem is going to occur if and when a H2H panflu outbreak occurs overseas, and our gov’t refuses to close the borders to air traffic immediately. Customs will not be able to check every passenger for signs of flu if those signs do not appear when travelers disembark at their destinations.
Sorry, Sarge. I got distracted here at work and had to wait to post.
Spinach-linked E coli cases jump to 131
Lisa Schnirring Contributing Writer
Sep 19, 2006 (CIDRAP News) – The tally of people involved in a nationwide Escherichia coli O157:H7 outbreak associated with fresh spinach jumped by 17 today to reach 131, about half of whom were hospitalized, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) reported.
At a press conference this afternoon, David Acheson, MD, chief medical officer for the FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, said two more patients developed hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), which can cause kidney failure and death, bringing HUS cases to 20. Nationwide, he said, 66 patients have been hospitalized with the illness. The death toll remained at one today, and the number of affected states stayed the same at 21.
Six people in the outbreak (5%) were younger than 5 years, and 96 (73%) were women, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said in an update today. Of patients who gave the date when their symptoms began, 93% fell ill between Aug 19 and Sep 5.
The FDA first announced the outbreak on Sep 14 when it advised consumers to avoid eating fresh spinach or any products containing it, because most patients said they had consumed fresh spinach. Two producers—Natural Selection Foods and River Ranch—have voluntarily recalled their products that contain fresh spinach.
Acheson said it’s too early to make a definitive statement on the virulence of the involved E coli strain, but he said the number of people who have been hospitalized seems high. In a typical E coli outbreak, he said, 25% to 30% of patients require hospital treatment.
Acheson said the number of patients who have had HUS is also high; normally, HUS only afflicts 5% to 10% of patients.
Investigators have taken spinach samples at production facilities and from bags sent in by consumers, Acheson said. Test results are expected in the next 3 or 4 days.
Teams of investigators are currently taking samples at nine farms that were growing spinach for Natural Selection Foods at the time of the outbreak. All the farms were linked to product codes on fresh spinach bags submitted by patients, he said. Monterey County, Calif., which includes the part of the Salinas Valley where much of the spinach is grown, has 10,480 acres devoted to spinach farming.
“Probably, we have a single location that further contaminated large volumes of spinach,” Acheson said.
Wisconsin has the highest number of cases with 32, including the one death. Most states have from 1 to 9 cases. Acheson speculated that Wisconsin might have received a disproportionate share of the tainted spinach.
Yesterday, Natural Selection Foods said that none of the bags submitted by patients were from its organic brands. However, Acheson said the FDA has not ruled out the organic products as a culprit.
The FDA continues to receive reports of new cases and new information on brands, he said. “We have not ruled out other recalls as our active investigation expands,” Acheson said.
The CDC said this week that people who experience diarrhea after eating fresh spinach or salad blends containing fresh spinach should contact their healthcare provider and ask that their stool sample be tested for E coli O157:H7.
http://tinyurl.com/s7c44
Nine farms? The irrigation systems would be separate for these locations. That would rule out the irrigation system as the source.
Commonground -
They are testing at nine farms. That doesn’t necessarily mean that all nine were involved. A point source is still possible. However, we may never know, as the authorities haven’t been very successful at tracking the sources of infection in prior outbreaks. Comingling of produce from different farms during processing complicates it further.
This all points up the fact that indentifying cases of intentional contamination is very difficult at best. In the Rajneesh case (in The Dalles, Oregon in 1984), what was initially deemed a naturally-occurring outbreak was only retrospectively identified as an attack when someone talked long afterward. The possibility of deliberate contamination shouldn’t be ‘in the back of the mind’ like Acheson said, IMO. It should be in the front of the mind, especially since there are, by his own account, unusually severe symptoms. This is going to cost even uninvolved producers and distributors millions and millions due to the recalls and loss of consumer confidence. There should be a concurrent PH and criminal investigation. Osterholm gave a great presentation on the subject that can be read here .
There also needs to be a failure analysis. E. coli in the environment, frankly, comes from feces. E. coli contamination of food says to me that infected feces came into contact with the food. This may have been in the form of solids, as in infected manure being used on the fields or, contaminating water or some other source. Every effort must urgently be made to stop it because it is killing people, making many more sick, and costing the industry millions. It is damaging the credibility of, and public confidence in the public health authorities.
BB is absolutely right when he points out that the problems persist despite all efforts to date, even in California where there are stringent controls. And in fairness to California, the problems certainly aren’t limited or peculiar to producers there - it’s just that is where much of the domestically grown produce comes from. Imported produce (and people) represent a much more complicated and multivariate issue. Failure to successfully control and remediate this limited and highly localized problem does not bode well for any efforts to try to limit the impact of pandemic disease.
Sarge…..”The possibility of deliberate contamination shouldn’t be ‘in the back of the mind’ like Acheson said, IMO.”
In this day and age, I agree with you 100%. I’ve lost my confidence in our public health authorities. This does not bode well if we have a Pandemic……or a terrorist attack with our food chain.
ProMED (excerpt) http://tinyurl.com/kqgz7
Illinois and Nebraska are new in this posting with 12 more cases and
2 more cases of hemolytic uremic syndrome compared to ProMED’s previous post.
A selective agar is used to identify _E. coli_ O157:H7 in clinical specimens and food. Unlike a typical _E. coli_, isolates of O157:H7 do not ferment sorbitol but do, like the usual _E. coli_, ferment lactose. Sorbitol-MacConkey agar (MacConkey agar contains lactose) has been used extensively to isolate this organism from clinical specimens. Sorbitol-positive isolates of _E. coli_ O157 present a significant problem in screening stools for this pathogen, as the lack of sorbitol fermenting is usually a prime criterion. If clinical suspicion exists, potential isolates should be sent to reference laboratories. Toxin production can be detected by immunoblot, and O157 antigen can be detected by ELISA. Not only do these isolates ferment sorbitol, but they also are tellurite-susceptible (1) and will not be isolated on cefixime-tellurite Sorbitol-MacConkey agar, a selective medium for the usual _E. coli_ O157.
131 cases - HUS cases - 20 - 9/19.
146 cases - HUS cases - 23 - 9/20.
Tainted spinach found as E coli cases rise to 146
Lisa Schnirring Contributing Writer
Sep 20, 2006 (CIDRAP News) – Fifteen more cases were identified today in a nationwide Escherichia coli O157:H7 outbreak traced to fresh spinach, raising the total to 146, and investigators have identified the first contaminated spinach sample from a bag submitted by a patient, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said today.
At a press briefing, David Acheson, MD, chief medical officer for the FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, said three more patients developed hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), a serious complication of the infection, bringing HUS cases to 23. Seventy-six people were hospitalized in the outbreak. The death toll remains at 1, but the number of states affected by the outbreak grew by two, to 23.
The FDA said the first spinach sample to test positive for the outbreak E coli strain was from a package that one of five infected patients in New Mexico ate from before becoming sick. A lab from the New Mexico Department of Health (NMDH) determined that the strain they found in the spinach matched the strain from patients. The spinach was from a bag of Dole baby spinach, a nonorganic brand from Natural Selection Foods, one of the companies that have recalled fresh spinach. The spinach had a use-by date of Aug 30.
David Mills, director of the NMDH’s scientific lab division, said in a press release today, “It is another piece of the puzzle that associated the disease causing organism with the outbreak.”
A third company announced a spinach recall late yesterday. RLB Food Distributors, of West Caldwell, N.J., recalled eight products because they contain spinach from Natural Selections Foods, which on Sep 17 recalled all fresh spinach products with use-by dates between Aug 17 and Oct 1. Natural Selections Foods is a major supplier of fresh spinach to other companies, including River Ranch, which recalled spinach-containing products yesterday. The RLB recall involves fresh spinach products that have a use-by date of Aug 20.
In another new development, Acheson said FDA has narrowed its investigation to fresh spinach grown in California, particularly on farms in the greater Salinas Valley area. He said clues so far point to farms in Monterey, San Benito, and Santa Clara counties. “That doesn’t mean all of the farms in those counties are involved, it means we’re narrowing our investigation,” Acheson said.
Homing in on a specific geographic area means the FDA can now plan how to quickly allow spinach from uninvolved growing areas to be returned to store shelves, Acheson said. “However, the message tonight is still to not consume fresh spinach,” he said.
The CDC said this week that people who experience diarrhea after eating fresh spinach or salad blends containing fresh spinach should contact their healthcare provider and ask to have a stool sample be tested for E coli O157:H7.
http://tinyurl.com/hjjhf
Its been seven days since my mom and her boyfriend ate the bad spinach,Do you think they must be fine?
Another article on this in the Washington Post: http://tinyurl.com/lhbzk
I found this part very interesting: “Over the past decade, outbreaks of E. coli caused by fresh produce have become more frequent, while the number caused by meat and poultry has declined. Consumer advocates and some food safety experts believe the disparity reflects differences in the regulation of fresh produce and of meat and poultry.
The bifurcated system, which puts the U.S. Department of Agriculture in charge of meat and poultry and gives the FDA oversight of the rest of the food supply, has changed little since its creation a century ago following publication of “The Jungle,” Upton Sinclair’s expose of Chicago slaughterhouses.
Last year, the FDA’s approximately 800 inspectors conducted about 20,000 food safety inspections of all non-meat products, allowing them to visit a processing plant on average once every few years. By contrast, the USDA, which has an inspector daily in more than 6,000 processing plants nationwide, performs the same number of inspections in a matter of days, said Tony Corbo, a lobbyist with Food and Water Watch.
“I liken this to Jack in the Box all over again,” said Michael Doyle, director of the University of Georgia’s Center for Food Safety. He was referring to a 1993 outbreak of E. coli in Jack in the Box hamburgers that sickened hundreds and killed three.
After that episode, the USDA mandated tougher processing standards, which food safety experts credit with lowering the frequency of meat- and poultry-related E. coli and salmonella outbreaks.
“Until the government comes in and says we’re going to have a law here . . . I don’t think we’re going to make any monumental change in improving the safety of bagged salads in general,” Doyle said.
Food safety in the fresh produce industry is largely a matter of self-regulation. Typically, the FDA and state health department officials can inspect only processing plants and don’t venture onto farms unless there’s an outbreak. The FDA doesn’t have the power to order recalls, though it can seize food before it has gone to retailers if a producer doesn’t agree to one. The federal government has more powers when it comes to produce that has a plant disease that threatens other crops, DeWaal said.”
If a person is going to submit a stool sample, would they have to pay for it? That would stop a lot of people from doing it.
E. Coli O157 is far more common recently.
USDA study on Agricultural Fairs.
Shiga-Toxigenic Escherichia Coli O157 (STEC)
Inspection of the animal stock is abysmal.
Federal Inspectors Say Slaughterhouses Are Selling Contaminated Meat
146 cases - HUS cases: 23 - 9/20
157 cases - HUS cases: 27 - 9/21
E coli cases jump to 157; experts share clinical advice
Lisa Schnirring Contributing Writer
Sep 21, 2006 (CIDRAP News) – Eleven more cases were identified today in a nationwide Escherichia coli O157:H7 outbreak related to fresh spinach, bringing the total to 157, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) reported.
David Acheson, MD, chief medical officer for the FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, said at a news briefing that four more patients developed hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), a serious complication, bringing HUS cases to 27. Eighty-three people—more than half of those infected—were hospitalized in the outbreak. The death toll remained the same at 1 today.
Few new details emerged about investigations on nine farms in California’s greater Salinas Valley that have been possibly linked to a fresh spinach sample that tested positive for E coli O157:H7. The results on the sample, collected from a bag of spinach from the home of a New Mexico patient, were announced yesterday. Acheson said about 10 or 15 more bags of spinach obtained from patients are being tested.
Officials are intensively discussing allowing spinach from unaffected regions to be sold again, he said. Authorities are working out what labeling should be used and are devising a message to ensure that consumers know the spinach that returns to stores is safe.
“A confused consumer is a consumer who’s not confident about the safety of the food,” Acheson said. He added that until those details are resolved, the advisory from the FDA remains the same: Don’t eat fresh or raw spinach.
No new recalls were announced today. Three remain in effect: fresh spinach and products that contain fresh spinach produced or distributed by Natural Selections Foods, River Ranch, and RLB Food Distributors.
The FDA issued its fresh spinach alert on Sep 14, when the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced that 50 patients in eight states had been diagnosed with E coli infections and that fresh or raw spinach was the food most of them had in common.
The CDC said this week that people who experience diarrhea after eating fresh spinach or salad blends containing fresh spinach should contact their healthcare provider and ask to have a stool sample tested for E coli O157:H7.
Concern about high HUS rate At an E coli update for clinicians today, hosted by the CDC, Phillip Tarr, MD, director of the Division of Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, said the high number of patients (27 of 157, or 17%) who developed HUS, particularly young adults, in the current outbreak was unexpected. Children usually have higher rates of HUS than adults. Tarr said the rate can be as high as 15% in children younger than 10 who have E coli infections.
At today’s press briefing, Acheson reported that more than half of the HUS cases in this outbreak were in adults. He listed the following age distribution for the HUS patients: younger than 5 years, 7%; 5 to 19, 24%; 20 to 64, 55%, and 65 and older, 14%.
Earlier this week, Acheson said it was too early to reach conclusions about the virulence of the involved E coli strain, but he said the number of people who have been hospitalized seemed high. In a typical E coli outbreak, he said, 25% to 30% of patients require hospital treatment, compared with more than half of the patients identified so far in this episode.
Experts share diagnostic, management tips Tarr said two notable symptoms of an E coli O157:H7 infection are watery diarrhea that often turns bloody and abdominal pain that is out of proportion to the diarrhea. He said adults usually have right-sided abdominal tenderness, whereas the tenderness in children is typically more generalized.
Patricia Griffin, MD, chief of the CDC’s foodborne diseases epidemiology section, said patients with E coli infections have little or no fever. She advised clinicians who have patients with a suspected E coli infection to speak directly with labs before sending in stool samples. “Ask them if they look for O157 in every stool specimen; not all do,” she said. “If they don’t, ask them to add a routine enteric panel.”
If the lab says it does test for O157:H7, clinicians should ask what test they use, Griffin said. The sorbitol-MacConkey agar test is preferred, but many labs instead use the more automated enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) test that screens for Shiga toxin, she said. Labs should hold on to positive samples for further testing and so that isolates can be sent to public health labs.
Both Griffin and Tarr said there is no evidence that antibiotics are helpful in treating patients who have E coli O157:H7 infections; in fact, they said antibiotics have been known to increase the production of Shiga toxin.
Hydration plays a key role in supportive care because of the profound coagulation activation seen in patients with these infections, Tarr said. Admitting patients to the hospital allows patients to receive intravenous isotonic saline solution to maintain kidney perfusion, enables physicians to monitor patients’ platelet counts and other lab values, and prevents patients from spreading the infection to others, he said.
The platelet count is a useful barometer of the patient’s risk of developing HUS and should be monitored daily, he said. “Once it starts to rise, the patient is usually out of the woods.”
http://tinyurl.com/jemdj
157 cases - HUS cases: 27 9/21
166 cases - HUS cases: 27 9/22
Two deaths probed as E coli cases reach 166
Sep 22, 2006 (CIDRAP News) – Nine more cases were found in a nationwide outbreak of Escherichia coli O157:H7 infections linked to fresh spinach, raising the total to 166, and two more deaths are suspected to be part of the outbreak, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said today.
The outbreak has now affected people in 25 states, two more than yesterday, the CDC said. Eighty-eight people (53%) were hospitalized. Cases of hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), a serious complication of the illness, remain at 27. One death was previously confirmed to be linked to the outbreak.
State health officials in Maryland and Idaho are awaiting test results to determine if two patients who died from known or suspected E coli infections this week have the same strain implicated in the outbreak.
A sample from a Maryland woman and some of the spinach she ate before she got sick are being tested at a Maryland state lab, and results may not be known for several days, Washington County Health Department spokesman Rod MacRae told the Associated Press (AP) today.
The CDC said the woman died Sep 13 and had recently consumed fresh spinach. E coli O157:H7 was cultured from her stool, but DNA fingerprinting to determine if it is the outbreak strain has not been possible, the agency said.
“This is a very suspicious association at this point, there’s no question about it,” MacRae said. He said the woman was a Washington County resident in her 80s.
A 2-year-old Idaho boy with HUS died Sep 20, but E coli O157:H7 has not been detected in his samples, the CDC said. Christine Hahn, MD, an epidemiologist at the Idaho Department of Health, told the AP that the boy had bloody diarrhea and that family members said he had eaten packaged spinach.
“We know that if he had that kidney disease, it makes it very probable that he had E coli,” Hahn said. She added that test results would likely be available next week.
The CDC said today that 31% of children under 18 in the outbreak suffered HUS. For adults aged 18 to 59, the HUS rate was 7%, and for those 60 and older the rate was 16%.
Teams from the Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) and the state of California have narrowed their investigation of the outbreak to nine farms in California’s greater Salinas Valley area, on the basis of information from spinach bags found in the homes of some patients and records from three companies that recalled fresh spinach products.
Once investigators pinpoint the cause of the outbreak, federal officials will evaluate what went wrong,
more here: http://tinyurl.com/m2ea7
It has been 7 days and I am fine.
166 Cases - HUS cases: 27 9/22
171 Cases - HUS cases: 27 9/24
Update on Multi-State Outbreak of E. coli O157:H7 Infections From Fresh Spinach, September 23, 2006
As of 1 PM (ET) September 23, 2006, Saturday, 171 persons infected with the outbreak strain of E. coli O157:H7 have been reported to CDC from 25 states.
Among the ill persons, 92 (54%) were hospitalized, 27 (16%) developed a type of kidney failure called hemolytic-uremic syndrome (HUS), and an adult in Wisconsin died. One hundred twenty-three (72%) were female and 14 (8%) were children under 5 years old. The proportion of persons who developed HUS was 31% in children (<18 years old), 7% in persons 18 to 59 years old, and 16% in persons 60 years old or older. Among ill persons who provided the date when their illnesses began, 88% became ill between August 19 and September 5. The peak time when illnesses began was August 30 to September 1 — 35% of persons with the outbreak strain became ill on one of those 3 days.
Two deaths among suspect cases have been reported. Suspect cases are not known to have been infected with the outbreak strain, so are not included in the confirmed case count. Idaho is investigating a suspect case in a 2-year-old child with HUS who died on September 20 and reportedly had recently consumed fresh spinach. E. coli O157 has not been detected in the child. Maryland is investigating a suspect case in an elderly woman who died on September 13 and had recently consumed fresh spinach. E. coli O157 was cultured from her stool, but “DNA fingerprinting” to determine whether it is the outbreak strain has not been possible.
http://tinyurl.com/zzene
171 Cases - HUS cases: 27 9/24
175 Cases - HUS cases: 28 9/25
FDA clears some spinach as E coli cases grow to 175
Sep 25, 2006 (CIDRAP News) – The case count in a national outbreak of Escherichia coli O157:H7 infections linked to fresh spinach rose to 175 today, but federal officials signaled that it’s safe to eat spinach from places other than three counties in California’s Salinas Valley.
The 175 cases reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) represent an increase of 9 since Sep 22. Ninety-three people (53%) were hospitalized, and 28 suffered the serious kidney condition known as hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), the CDC said. The number of states stayed the same today at 25, as did the number of deaths: one confirmed and two suspected.
Health officials are awaiting test results to determine if two patients who died of known or suspected E coli infections last week, an elderly Maryland woman and a 2-year-old Idaho boy, have the strain linked to the outbreak.
A second bag of E coli–contaminated spinach has been identified, this time by Utah health officials, according to a press release yesterday from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The contaminated spinach was the same brand and type as the contaminated bag found last week in New Mexico: Dole baby spinach. Both bags had a use-by date of Aug 30.
The FDA said two more companies voluntarily recalled their products: Triple B Corp., doing business as S.T. Produce, of Seattle, Wash., and Pacific Coast Fruit Co. of Portland, Ore. Triple B’s recall involves its fresh spinach salad products with a use-by date between Aug 22 and Sep 20, because they have may have contained spinach supplied by Natural Selections Foods, a major spinach supplier that was the first to recall its products. Triple B products were distributed in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Montana.
Products from Pacific Coast Fruit Co. also may have contained spinach supplied by Natural Selections Foods. Their recall involves salad products with a use-by date on or before Sep 20 and pizza products with a use-by date of Sep 14. The products were distributed in Alaska, Oregon, Washington, and Idaho.
The FDA is now indicating it is safe to eat fresh spinach that was not grown in the three counties implicated in the outbreak. In tracing tainted spinach, the FDA said last week it had narrowed its investigation to farms in Monterey, San Benito, and Santa Clara counties, all in the greater Salinas Valley.
“Consumers are advised not to purchase or consume fresh spinach if they cannot verify that it was grown in areas other than the three California counties implicated in the outbreak,” the FDA said. Other produce grown in the three counties is not implicated in the outbreak, nor is frozen or canned spinach.
The CDC said that cooking spinach at 160ºF for 15 seconds will kill E coli O157:H7, but consumers need to make sure all parts of the spinach reach that temperature, particularly if they cook it in a frying pan.
Last week produce industry representatives met with federal and state health officials to determine how to safely get fresh spinach from uninvolved areas back on the market. One option they discussed was adding region-of-origin labels to products that contain fresh spinach.
The E coli case count has grown steadily since the FDA issued its initial spinach advisory on Sep 14, when the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced that 50 patients in eight states had been diagnosed with E coli infections and that fresh or raw spinach was the food most of them had in common.
The CDC said last week that people who experience diarrhea after eating fresh spinach or salad blends containing fresh spinach should contact their healthcare provider and ask to have a stool sample tested for E coli O157:H7.
http://tinyurl.com/pkr78
Commonground and other contributors,
Thank you all for maintaining the currency of this thread with factual information. Each of you is a credit to this wiki.
We are faced with the uneasy fact that we’ve corruptted our food chain. This particular outbreak clearly details how minor changes can have a flooding effect.
It’s a shame that our government keeps putting off requiring point-of-origin labeling for ALL of our fresh food supply. This month spinach, next month ???
Commonground – at 06:03 Natural Selection products are distributed in the United States, Canada, and Mexico.
Toronto Star via ProMED:
At least one Canadian case of _E. coli_ [O157:H7] infection has been linked to tainted spinach that killed a Wisconsin woman and sickened about 175 others in the United States.
A woman in Renfrew County in eastern Ontario is recovering at home after being treated in hospital, Dan Strasbourg, a spokesman for Ontario’s Health Ministry said yesterday, 25 Sep 2006.
Dan Strasbourg said there is no cause for concern. “This is one case that we’ve seen,” Strasbourg said. “The individual became sick in early September and it’s the only case that we’ve seen since the outbreak began in the USA.”
The ministry was working with the local health unit to investigate the illness and is monitoring _E. coli_ through the province.
I don’t understand how these cases can continue to rise at this point? The bagged Spinach/Lettuce does not have that long of a shelf life……of course…..if it’s coming from CA and I live in NY……by the time it gets to me, 2 days in the store and it’s pulled.
Folks,
I spoke with a friend from CA and he says the buzz there is that the spinach fields may have been irrigated with something he called “reclaimed water.” Apparently it’s not as well treated as the drinking water which should have been used. Also costs of this reclaimed water is cheaper…Can someone from CA confirm or deny this?
Also to NS1-Wouldn’t drinking vinegar kill off these organisms if you took it prior to getting the kidney failure? Note antiboitics don’t help. I came back from a cruise ship with diarrhea at al revenge and my grandmother made me drink some in water with honey several times a day. It worked, the boiling symptom and nauseau went away (I freely admit the idea of drinking white vinegar is disgusting, but it was worth it). Also-washing your lettuce and spinach in the equivalent of a 1/2 tsp of the pool bleach some folks have set aside-ten minute soak-rinse really well would probably kill the organism. How come we’re not hearing about this?
Leo7. There are a lot of similarities between E.coli 0157 H7 and H5N1…these bugs are a whole different kind of bug not to be confused with copy cats…
…you can consider the toxemia from an E. coli infection on the same level with the ‘cytokine storm’ from H5N1.
Hey Tom! Appreciate the idea of virulence that this is freak of nature. I’m guessing many of the sick are immunocompromised in some way. But, I have a family of missionaries always going down to third world countries to build water irrigation etc and they wouldn’t go without cases of vinegar. I realize this is just word of mouth..they aren’t doctors…but vinegar has been used for ages. When was the last time you used it for this—or did you go straight to Imodium AD? My family takes Imodium AD, but what comes back used is the vinegar. If they eat a meal and stomach revolts they immediately chase down with vinegar. In this case, it seems people have N&V with diarrhea and they go in because they can’t keep anything down, or have bloody diarrhea. This gives the E.Coli days to reach massive toxic levels. It would sure be a simple cure if it worked. Of course if the reclaimed water is being used then the DA should prosecute because they know it’s contaminated water. I’m just putting an alternative out there for consideration.
Leo7. Everyone is susceptible to E. coli, you don’t have to be immunocompromised to be susceptible as with H5N1…it’s kind of a crap shoot…I am not sure how prevalent this bug is in third world countries…it may be a product of our animal husbandry techniques.
You are entirely correct…vinegar is a home remedy that just might work…the fact is that this is another one of those problems to treat where antibiotics are controversial and the damage is done by toxins and not by the bacteria.
This bacteria if it gets in the mammary gland of a cow can kill that cow in a few hours…from total health to death…I have had farmers call me in the morning and tell me that the cow was absolutely fine when they went in the house six hours earlier…and they would know.
Thankfully, human infections don’t happen often and usually there are blatant mistakes that cause the problem…in this case surface contaminated ground water in contact with cattle populations.
In other words…this is surface contamination due to irrigation with contaminated ground water or washing the leaves after they were picked with contaminated ground water.
175 Cases - HUS Cases: 28 9/25
177 Cases - HUS Cases: 28 9/26
http://tinyurl.com/h9mn8
Date: Mon, 25 Sep 2006
From: ProMED-mail <promed@promedmail.org>
Source: FDA.gov [edited]
<http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/NEWS/2006/NEW01465.html>
To date, 175 cases of illness due to _E. coli_ O157:H7 infection have been reported to the CDC, including 28 cases of hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), 93 hospitalizations and one death.
FDA is working closely with CDC and the state of California. FDA has determined that the spinach implicated in the outbreak was grown in 3 counties: Monterey, San Benito and Santa Clara in California. Spinach grown in the rest of the United States has not been implicated in the current _E. coli_ O157:H7 outbreak. The public can be confident that spinach grown in the unimplicated areas can be consumed.
Consumers are advised not to purchase or consume fresh spinach if they cannot verify that it was grown in areas other than the 3 California counties implicated in the outbreak.
Other produce grown in these counties is not implicated in this outbreak. Processed spinach (e.g., frozen and canned spinach) is also not implicated in this outbreak.
States Affected: The 25 affected states are: Arizona (7), California (1), Colorado (1), Connecticut (3) Idaho (4), Illinois (1), Indiana (9), Kentucky (8), Maine (3), Maryland (3), Michigan (4), Minnesota (2), Nebraska (9), Nevada (1), New Mexico (5), New York (11), Ohio (20), Oregon (6), Pennsylvania (8), Tennessee (1), Utah (18), Virginia (2), Washington (3), Wisconsin (44), and Wyoming (1).
Laboratory Findings: The Utah Department of Health (UDOH) and the Salt Lake Valley Health Department (SLVHD) have confirmed that _E. coli_ O157:H7, the same strain as that associated with the outbreak, has been found in a bag of Dole baby spinach purchased in Utah with a use-by date of 30 Aug 2006. Laboratory tests were conducted by the Utah Public Health Laboratory (UPHL).
The New Mexico Department of Health announced on 20 Sep 2006 that it had linked a sample from a package of spinach with the outbreak strain of _E. coli_ O157:H7. The spinach was eaten by one of New Mexico’s patients before becoming sick. DNA fingerprinting tests determined that the strain from the spinach matches the strain from patients in the outbreak. The package of spinach that tested positive was “Dole Baby Spinach, Best if Used by 30 Aug.”
— ProMED-mail <promed@promedmail.org>
[Since the previous day’s posting, 2 more cases of the infection have been added, with one more hospitalization. Additional “smoking gun” bags of spinach have been reported below. - Mod.LL]
[2] Date: Tue, 26 Sep 2006 From: ProMED-mail<promed@promedmail.org> Source: KGO-TV (CA) [edited] <http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=local&id=4599585>
A bag of Dole-brand baby spinach bought in western Pennsylvania is the 3rd in the nation being tied to a deadly _E. coli_ [O157:H7] outbreak.
Pennsylvania health officials said today a state lab identified the strain of _E. coli_ in a sample of spinach purchased around 8 Sep 2006. Health officials in California said yesterday that 2 other bags of Dole baby spinach were helping them zero in on the source of the outbreak that has sickened 175.
The 2 bags were packaged at the same plant, on the same shift and the same day. One bag was found in Utah and the other in New Mexico. The plant is owned by Natural Selection Foods of San Juan Bautista. The company supplies Dole and more than 20 other brands.
— ProMED-mail <promed@promedmail.org>
[A 3rd bag is found… - Mod.LL]
[3] Date: Tue, 26 Sep 2006 From: ProMED-mail promed@promedmail.org Source: WIFR-TV (IL) [edited] <http://www.wifr.com/home/headlines/4234836.html>
Dr. Eric E. Whitaker, state public health director, announced today a sample of bagged spinach collected from Illinois’ 1st case of _E. coli_ O157:H7 was positive for _E. coli_ O157:H7. Last week an elderly woman from LaSalle County was the 1st state resident whose _E. coli_ O157:H7 isolate matched the national outbreak strain associated with spinach consumption. Bagged spinach collected from the home of Illinois’ 1st case has been tested at the Illinois Department of Public Health new Springfield Combined Laboratory Addition and found to be positive for _E. coli_ O157:H7. Further testing will take place to confirm that the strain of _E. coli_ isolated from this bagged spinach also matches the outbreak strain.
— ProMED-mail <promed@promedmail.org>
[…and a 4th. It is not specifically stated that these spinach isolates have yet been typed as outbreak strains or whether they were — as the 1st 2 bags — produced in the same factory, on the same day, and on the same shift. - Mod.LL]
[4] Date: Tue, 23 Sep 2006 From: ProMED-mail <promed@promedmail.org> Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution [edited] <http://www.ajc.com/health/content/shared-auto/healthnews/safp/535148.html>
A 2nd tainted bag of spinach found in Utah over the weekend has helped health officials pinpoint _E. coli_ contamination in one specific batch of fresh spinach in a California processing plant.
The Associated Press reported Tuesday that California health officials said the Utah bag of Dole baby spinach and another of the same brand found in New Mexico last week were both processed during the same shift on 15 Aug 2006 at Natural Selection Foods’ San Juan Bautista plant in the Salinas Valley.
“We are looking very aggressively at what was produced on that date,” Dr. Kevin Reilly, deputy director of prevention services for the California Department of Health Services, said late Monday. “Much of the feedback we got from patients right now was related to Dole packaging.”
The outbreak has prompted federal officials to consider tighter regulation of the growing and processing of fresh spinach. Some consumer groups and agriculture experts have been critical of the regulatory process, citing what they called lax oversight of the agriculture industry.
On Tue, 26 Sep 2006, 3 top national environmental organizations — the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), the Sierra Club and the Environmental Integrity Project — warned that bacterial pollution from livestock and poultry factory farms poses a major threat to public health. They were to meet with U.S. Environmental Protection Agency officials to urge strengthened regulations for farm pollution, according to a statement issued by the 3 groups.
177 Cases - HUS Cases: 28 9/26
183 Cases - HUS Cases: 29 9/27
http://tinyurl.com/g7mv3
Date: Tue 26 Sep 2006
From: ProMED-mail <promed@promedmail.org>
Source: FDA.gov [edited]
<http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/NEWS/2006/NEW01466.html>
To date, 183 cases of illness due to _E. coli_ O157:H7 infection have been reported to the CDC, including 29 cases of Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome (HUS), 95 hospitalizations and one death.
States Affected; Canadian case identified: the 26 affected states are: Arizona (7), California (1), Colorado (1), Connecticut (3) Idaho (4), Illinois (1), Indiana (9), Kentucky (8), Maine (3), Maryland (3), Michigan (4), Minnesota (2), Nebraska (9), Nevada (1), New Mexico (5), New York (11), Ohio (24), Oregon (6), Pennsylvania (8), Tennessee (1), Utah (18), Virginia (2), Washington (3), West Virginia (1), Wisconsin (47), and Wyoming (1). In addition, Canada has confirmed that one case of _E. coli_ O157:H7 has been positively matched to the outbreak strain in a person who ate bagged spinach.
ProMED-mail <promed@promedmail.org>
[Since the previous day, 8 more overall cases have been included in the outbreak, with 2 more hospitalizations and an additional case of HUS. Additionally, West Virginia has been added to the affected states list. - Mod.LL]
183 Cases - HUS Cases: 29 9/27
187 Cases - HUS Cases: 29 9/29
http://tinyurl.com/nt6vm
Spinach-related E coli cases rise to 187
Sep 29, 2006 (CIDRAP News) – The number of people sickened in a nationwide outbreak of Escherichia coli O157:H7 infections linked to fresh spinach grew to 187 yesterday, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The 187 cases represent an increase of 4 since Sep 26. Ninety-seven people (52%) were hospitalized, and the number of patients with hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), a serious kidney condition, remained the same at 29 (16%).
One death has been blamed on the outbreak so far, an adult in Wisconsin, though health officials in Maryland and Idaho are waiting for lab results in two deaths that may be related to the outbreak.
The CDC said the outbreak strain of E coli O157:H7 has now been isolated from nine packages of spinach from patients in seven states. The Los Angeles Times today reported that California health officials have said all were sold as Dole baby spinach and that none were organically grown. Dole baby spinach is one of the many brands packaged by Natural Selections Foods, the largest of five companies involved in recalling products that contain fresh spinach.
However, Kevin Reilly, deputy director for prevention service at the California Department of Health Services, told the Times that investigators have not ruled out the possibility that organic spinach is involved in the outbreak.
Inspectors employed by two California plants that process spinach for Natural Selections Foods said yesterday that tests for E coli at the plants have been negative, according to the Times report. But Reilly said federal and state investigators have not yet cleared the plants.
In other developments, the CDC reported it is helping the Wisconsin Division of Public Health conduct a case-control study of the E coli outbreak. Wisconsin, with 49 cases, has been the hardest-hit state.
The CDC said investigators, with the help of a CDC hydrologist, have taken 188 environmental samples so far, including water, products from cultivated fields, and sediment. The investigation is focusing on nine farms in three counties in the greater Salinas Valley growing area: Monterey, San Benito, and Santa Clara.
The CDC said spinach grown in these areas is often packaged in other parts of the country and that consumers should not purchase or consume fresh spinach unless they know where it was grown.
Though the outbreak appears to be tapering off, the CDC is still advising that people who experience after eating fresh spinach should contact their healthcare provider and ask to be tested for E coli O157:H7.
Maybe “reclaimed water” (read sewage plant effluent), maybe from O157:H7 contaminated “organic fertilizer” (read cow feces) - but then again, same batch, same shift - that is what one would expect from a deliberate contamination (read biological attack).
It will be interesting to see what the environmental samples show.
Sarge,
Natural fertilizer, such as animal waste, that is used on field growing certified organic crops must be composted in such a way that pathogens are erradicated. I also seem to recall that grass-fed or organically raised cattle must be used to produce the fertilizer.
Grass-fed cattle, for the most part, do not express EHEC / STEC / e. coli 0157:H7 because the digestive tract has a more balanced pH due to proper feeding.
100% of grain-fed commercial cattle (feed-lot, non-organic) express EHEC / STEC / e. coli 0157:H7 in the hottest 6 weeks of each year and almost 50% during the cooler months. Feeding a grain to a ruminent as a primary foodstuff creates acidosis and an very hospitable environment for emergent pathogens.
187 Cases - HUS Cases: 29 9/29
192 Cases - HUS Cases: 30 10/4
http://tinyurl.com/h5unk
As of 1 PM (ET) Tue 3 Oct 2006, 192 persons infected with the outbreak strain of _E. coli_ O157:H7 have been reported to CDC from 26 states.
Among the ill persons, 98 (51 percent) were hospitalized, 30 (16 percent) developed a type of kidney failure called hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), and an adult in Wisconsin died. 136 (71 percent) were female and 20 (11 percent) were children under 5 years old. The proportion of persons who developed HUS was 28 percent in children (less than 18 years old), 9 percent in persons 18 to 59 years old, and 14 percent in persons 60 years old or older. Among ill persons who provided the date when their illnesses began, 80 percent became ill between 19 Aug and 5 Sep 2006. The peak time when illnesses began was 30 Aug to 1 Sep 2006; 31 percent of persons with the outbreak strain became ill on one of those 3 days.
_E. coli_ O157 was isolated from 11 packages of spinach supplied by patients living in 9 states. All packages were marketed as baby spinach and labeled with the same brand name. The “DNA fingerprints” of all 11 of these _E. coli_ match that of the outbreak strain.
— ProMED-mail <promed@promedmail.org>
[Since the last CDC posting reported through 1 pm as of 28 Sep 2006, in the last 5 days, there have been 5 more infections included, with an additional hospitalization and an additional case of HUS. Two more “smoking gun” bags of spinach have been identified. No additional states are included, and the 2 other possibly linked deaths are still being investigated.
The number of cases of HUS in this cluster has been higher than usual, especially since most cases were not in young children. It is possible that this particular strain of Shiga toxin-producing _E. coli_ (STEC, also called VTEC (for Verotoxin Producing _E. coli_) may have been more virulent. For a discussion related to this, see the moderator’s discussion near the end of this posting. - Mod.LL]
[comment: I was very careful not to cause a side scroll. 2 articles, same date. Pro-Med comment in brackets at bottom]
E. COLI O157 - CANADA (ONTARIO): SUSPECTED
http://tinyurl.com/eakjx
Health authorities are investigating 2 _E. coli_ outbreaks in Ontario, involving 6 people, but have not yet determined the bacteria source, officials told CBC.ca Fri, 6 Oct 2006. Another 12 potential cases are being investigated in the 2 cities of Hamilton and Sudbury. Three people are sick with _E. coli_ infection in Sudbury and another 3 have been confirmed ill in Hamilton. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has not confirmed a link between the illnesses.
“A food source has not been confirmed as of now,” CFIA spokesman Alain
Charette said. “The investigation is ongoing.”
[2]
Contaminated produce may be to blame for 2 _E. coli_ outbreaks in the
province. Federal officials are reportedly investigating the outbreaks,
reportedly naming Romaine lettuce as a potential source of the problem, but
there may be others.
Six people are sick in Ontario: 3 in Sudbury and 3 in Hamilton. Another 12
potential cases are also under investigation in the 2 cities.
[It is not specifically stated that the _E. coli_ strain(s) involved is a
producer of Shiga toxin, but in the context of the posting, it is
probable. Likewise, because the onset of illness in these newly noted
Ontario cases is not stated, we cannot assess whether they occurred
simultaneously with the USA outbreaks.
Food ingestion histories are needed to confirm whether fresh produce (romaine lettuce is mentioned) is linked to the cases, as well as genetic analysis to determine whether these cases are related to the USA outbreak strain spread by spinach, The USA strain affected one person in eastern Ontario near Ottawa.
Neither Sudbury nor Hamilton is close to the Ottawa area. A map of the province of Ontario can be found at:
http://tinyurl.com/jvj5l
Date: Fri, 6 Oct 2006
From: ProMED-mail
Idaho health officials confirmed on Thu, 5 Oct 2006, a toddler who died in
Sep 2006 from kidney failure had been infected by the _E. coli_ strain
responsible for a nationwide wave of food poisoning linked to tainted spinach.
The 2-year-old boy, from Chubbuck, Idaho, who died on 20 Sep 2006, was the
2nd confirmed fatality of the _E. coli_ bacteria outbreak that has sickened
192 people in the USA and one person in Canada, said Ross Mason, a
spokesman for the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare.
An elderly woman in Wisconsin who died on 7 Sep 2006 was the 1st confirmed
death from the outbreak.
“His parents had given him a smoothie of yogurt and spinach,” Mason said,
noting the boy then became severely ill and died about a week later.
The death of an elderly Nebraska woman has been linked to an outbreak of
_E. coli_ from tainted spinach, state health officials said Fri, 6 Oct 2006.
Laboratory tests and DNA fingerprinting confirmed the death was from the O157:H7 strain of _E. coli_, the state Health and Human Services System said. The woman died in late Aug 2006, said spokeswoman Marla Augustine. 2 other deaths — a Wisconsin adult and a 2-year-old Idaho boy — have also been determined to be from the _E. coli_ outbreak.
Date: Fri, 6 Oct 2006
From: ProMED-mail
The state of Maryland has been investigating what federal officials have
called a “suspect case,” an elderly woman who died 13 Sep 2006 after
consuming fresh spinach. Although _E. coli_ was found in her body, DNA
fingerprinting to confirm it was linked to the spinach has not been
possible, the CDC said.
Sarge,
Related? Are you working on this angle.
Various locales, same M.O.?
(Spinach stats): http://tinyurl.com/q2dca
192 Cases HUS Cases: 30 10/4
199 Cases HUS Cases: 31 10/09
Lettuce, ground beef recalls spur new E coli concerns
Oct 9, 2006 (CIDRAP News) – A Salinas Valley produce company recalled its green leaf lettuce yesterday because of possible Escherichia coli contamination, only 2 days after an Iowa meat producer recalled about 5,200 pounds of its ground beef for the same reason.
Both recalls involve the same O157:H5 E coli strain that has sickened 199 people and killed 3 in a national outbreak linked to spinach, but the source of the contamination is not the same.
Water contamination prompts lettuce recall
The voluntary lettuce recall, by the Nunes Company, Inc., of Salinas, Calif., applies to green leaf lettuce that carries the code 6SL0024, sold Oct 3 to Oct 6 under the Foxy brand, according to a company press release. The products were distributed in Arizona, California, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Montana to retail stores and other distributors that may have sold the product to restaurants.
No illnesses have been reported, according the company.
Nunes said 97% of the affected cartons had been located and either destroyed or set aside for destruction. The company said it was still working to locate 250 remaining cartons.
“This is a precautionary measure based upon the recent events in the produce industry, our concern for our customers and a concern about the product,” Nunes Vice President Tom Nunes, Jr, told Reuters yesterday.
Nunes said it recalled the green leaf lettuce when it was discovered that water used to irrigate the product may have been contaminated with E coli. Further investigation showed that the source of the contamination may have been temporary use of a secondary water source, which initially tested positive for E coli. The company said tests were being done on samples of recalled products.
The green leaf lettuce that is the focus of the recall is from one farm, according to the Reuters report.
US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) spokesperson Julie Zawisza told Reuters that the FDA expects the firm to identify the source of contamination and take steps to correct the problem so it doesn’t occur again.
The lettuce recall and the spinach E coli outbreak occurred less than 2 months after the FDA launched the Lettuce Safety Initiative, a broad investigation into farms and processors of lettuce and other leafy greens in California’s Salinas Valley.
Nineteen US outbreaks of E coli O157:H7 from lettuce and spinach have occurred since 1995, and eight have been traced to Salinas Valley. These eight outbreaks have affected 217 people in eight states, including two elderly patients from northern California who died in 2003.
More cases and deaths from contaminated spinach
Meanwhile, the number of sickened people in the nationwide outbreak of O157:H7 linked to fresh spinach has grew to 199 late last week, representing an increase of seven since Oct 4, according to FDA’s latest press release.
One hundred and two people (51%) were hospitalized, and one more case of hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), a serious kidney condition, has been reported, bringing that total to 31. The outbreak has affected people in 26 states and one Canadian.
Three deaths have now been linked to the outbreak strain; newly added to the count are a 2-year-old Idaho boy and an elderly Nebraska woman. Health officials are awaiting results on a fourth possible outbreak-related death, that of an elderly woman from Maryland.
Thirteen product samples have now been confirmed to contain the outbreak strain, two more than previously reported. The FDA has said that all spinach connected to the current outbreak has been traced to Natural Selection Foods, a company that packages more than 30 brands of fresh spinach and that supplies spinach to other produce companies.
Federal investigators searched two production facilities last week, one of which was a Natural Selections Foods plant, for possible food safety or environmental violations. The FDA said federal and state authorities are still doing inspections, collecting samples, and studying animal management and water use in the production and growing areas that have been traced to the E coli outbreak.
The FDA said it will hold a public meeting to address the issue of contaminated leafy greens later this year after the current investigation is complete.
E coli suspected in ground beef
In other E coli news, an Iowa company on Oct 6 voluntarily recalled 5,226 pounds of ground beef that may be contaminated with E coli O157:H5, according to a press release from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA).
Microbiological testing alerted authorities to possible contamination, the USDA said, adding that it had not received any reports of illness related to consumption of the product.
The packages, produced by Jim’s Market and Locker, Inc., of Harlan, Ia., bear the number “Est. 2424″ inside the USDA inspection mark. The ground beef was produced on Aug 31 and Sep 1 and distributed to one retail outlet in Iowa and distributors in Georgia, Iowa, Massachusetts, Nebraska, New York, Texas, and Wisconsin.
The Iowa ground beef recall is the largest to occur since early August, when a Tennessee company recalled 4,300 pounds because of possible E coli O157:H5 contamination, according to an Oct 7 Associated Press report.
Other cases stump health officials
Investigators are still trying to determine the source in several E coli cases in Wisconsin and Canada.
In Wisconsin, seven E coli cases were reported to the Manitowoc County Health Department between Aug 30 and Sep 11, according to a weekend report in the Manitowoc Herald Times. One was in the 77-year-old woman whose death was the first to be linked to contaminated fresh spinach from California. Another was linked to animal exposure at a private farm. No information was given for one case.
Four cases have been linked to events at the Manitowoc County Expo grounds. In two of these, direct contact with animals occurred. In the other two, however, no animal contact was reported. Samples were collected from 50 sites in the dairy and show barns as part of the investigation; two samples collected from bleachers in the show barn were positive for E coli.
The source of the contamination still has not been determined, but Amy Wergin, a county public health nurse, told the Herald Times that a manure contaminated with E coli could have been transferred to the bleachers from foot traffic or clothing.
Wergin said the bleachers were cleaned with disinfectant and the health department would implement other preventive measures, including posting signs that warn Expo attendees not to eat while in the barns.
In Canada, Ontario health officials have ruled out contaminated spinach as the cause of E coli outbreaks in two cities, according to an Oct 6 Bloomberg News report. Between Sep 21 and Sep 26, 20 residents of Hamilton, about 43 miles southwest of Toronto, were diagnosed with E coli infections. Over the same time period, cases were also found in Sudbury, about 240 miles north of Toronto.
Officials suspect a link between the illnesses and believe it may be food, but they have not yet determined the source, said CanWest News Service in a report 2 days ago.
NS1 -
I have been sorting through the news reports. However, I think we can all agree that news reports in general, and from the middle east in particular, can be incomplete or erroneous.
If we take the reports at face value, then the Iraqi police incident sure looks like it was intentional. Bad bugs in food don’t work that fast, IMO. A few hours later, sure, but to fall over at the table or while walking out of the mess hall says to me that a powerful toxin was present in the food, not just toxin-producing bugs.
As for the generals - maybe. I would hope that we see a follow-up on what it is they were afflicted with. Also, I would expect to see additional cases coming from the restaurant in question if this was a case of accidental food poisoning.
Food poisoning is probably one of the most under-reported illnesses. Most folks just take some Kaopectate and get over it, and never see a clinician.
The carrot juice story involved botulinum toxin. It is perfectly plausible to see botulinum poisoning in a foodstuff made from a raw veggie, that is grown in the soil and, is of nearly neutral pH, especially if it wasn’t pasteurized. This would also, however, be a perfect product to deliberately contaminate. Still, my impression is that it is likely a naturally-sourced outbreak.
All of that being said, the spinach story still doesn’t sound right. There is evidently a single point of contamination traceable to a single shift. If contaminated water was being used by the grower, I would think that we would see the problem spread over a longer time frame and amount of produce. That plus the exceptional virulence of the bug sends up flags for me. I would be pursuaded otherwise if they found a natural source of the same genotype in the soil or water. I guess we will just have to wait and see.
I do note though that the authorities are investigating this as a possible criminal incident, either through deliberate contamination or negligent disregard for safety standards. Bronco Bill is correct that there are numerous stringent standards in place to prevent this sort of thing. However, maybe the standards aren’t stringent enough, or, the producers didn’t adhere to them. Time will tell, I hope. Not knowing is an entre’ to another incident.
Upon further reflection, I am venturing that the Iraqi police case is not a natural food outbreak, but one of deliberate poisoning. The bleeding symptoms indicate to me that an anti-coagulant such as warfarin was mixed into the food. Warfarin is a widely available rat poison (and has a medical use where it is called coumadin). It’s presence should be readily detectable in the food samples by any moderately competent laboratory. I haven’t found any news report follow-ups today.
Manure implicated in E coli outbreak
Lisa Schnirring Contributing Writer
Oct 13, 2006 (CIDRAP News) – Investigators seeking the contamination source in a nationwide Escherichia coli O157:H7 outbreak have genetically matched an E coli strain found in manure from a California cattle ranch near spinach fields with the strain isolated from sick patients and their leftover spinach.
In a statement yesterday, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said the investigation points to one infected lot of contaminated spinach that contained spinach from fields on four different farms. Thus, the FDA has narrowed its investigation from nine farms to four, which are located in Monterey and San Benito counties.
Media reports say three manure samples tested positive for the outbreak strain and that investigators have so far taken 650 samples from soil, water, and manure on the farms.
Findings raise more questions
Kevin Reilly, deputy director of prevention services for the California Department of Health Services, told reporters at a press conference yesterday that the results don’t prove that the manure was responsible for the outbreak.
The manure samples that tested positive for the outbreak strain were located between a half mile and a mile from a spinach field, the Los Angeles Times reported.
However, federal and state investigators still don’t know how the feces contaminated the spinach. Suspected transport mechanisms include agricultural runoff, irrigation water, and farm-worker hygiene.
Media reports said this is the first time investigators have been able to link an outbreak strain of E coli to a farm where contaminated spinach or lettuce was grown.
The positive finding is significant but is just one aspect of the investigation, the FDA said. Testing of other environmental samples from all four ranches is ongoing.
“While the focus of this outbreak has narrowed to these four fields, the history of E coli O157:H7 outbreaks linked to leafy greens indicates an ongoing problem,” the FDA said.
The outbreak has sickened 199 people and killed 3, and has spanned 26 states and one Canadian province. Since 1995, 20 E coli outbreaks have been traced to leafy greens. Just last week, Nunes Company, Inc., a Salinas, Calif. produce marketer, recalled its green leaf lettuce because of possible E coli contamination from a secondary irrigation water source. In an Oct 10 press release the company said its follow-up tests on the recalled lettuce and irrigation water were negative for E coli O157:H7.
Risky farming practices? The pasture where the contaminated cattle manure was found is part of a ranch that leases fields to spinach growers, according to an article today in the San Francisco Chronicle. Fences on the property had been penetrated by wild pigs, and investigators are assessing whether the pigs might have spread the bacteria from the cattle pasture to the spinach field, the Chronicle said.
Reilly told the Chronicle the farm where matching manure was found did not fully follow voluntary guidelines that growers use to prevent contamination of leafy greens. He said concerns include the proximity of the cattle to spinach fields and the failure of fences to keep wildlife out of the growing fields.
“The fields are surrounded, frankly, by pastures where livestock are kept,” Reilly told reporters. Reilly was quoted by the Times as saying the closeness of cattle to leafy greens farms is not uncommon in the Salinas Valley area, but that not all four of the suspected farms have both livestock and produce operations.
The Times reported that the cattle ranch and nearby spinach operations are separated by a paved road and fences. The ranch has not been identified.
Foodborne disease expert Craig Hedberg, PhD, told CIDRAP News that the spinach outbreak highlights a lack of attention to sanitation on farms and how that translates into disease risk. “This is going to make it impossible for the industry not to deal with these issues in the future,” said Hedberg, an associate professor of environmental and occupational health at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis,
The spinach outbreak is the produce industry’s “Jack in the Box” moment, Hedberg said, referring to a nationwide, hamburger-linked E coli O157:H7 outbreak that killed four and sickened hundreds in 1993. “The Jack in the Box episode changed perceptions of eating hamburger and led to changes in how we slaughter cattle and prepare meat,” he said. “The spinach outbreak will usher in a series of changes in how we manage farms and the environment and handle fresh produce.”
Hedberg said he’s not surprised that the investigators were able to locate a possible source. “With the scope of the outbreak and the attention it got, much more effort was put into the investigation,” he said, noting that federal and state authorities had a lot of data to work with, such as product case numbers and spinach samples.