The headlines about Shigella have taken a sharp turn. For most of my career the bug showed up in the news the way I knew it best — a daycare outbreak, a sick restaurant worker, a batch of contaminated produce. Lately the headlines read more like something out of an STI clinic: “sexually transmitted superbug,” “drug-resistant Shigella spreading among […]
On August 22, 2000, Marion County Health investigators contacted the Oregon Health Department to report that a number of County residents were suffering from E. coli O157:H7. Three days later Wendy’s International, Inc voluntarily closed its Salem restaurant. The findings by the Marion Health Department made the link to this Wendy’s restaurant clear: The matched […]
On July 17, 2002, Spokane Regional Health District (SRHD) contacted the Washington State Department of Health (WDOH) to report a cluster of diarrheal illnesses among a group of teenaged girls who had recently attended a drill team dance camp at Eastern Washington University (EWU). Laboratory tests conducted the WDOH Public Health Laboratory would later confirm […]
Late in the day on Friday, August 29, 2003, staff in the Communicable Disease (CD) section at the St. Clair County Health Department (SCCHD) received a telephone call from Brett Hellinga, a Sangamon County (Illinois) resident, who reported that he, his roommate and fiance (Jamie Eastwood Hellinga), and a friend from Rantoul, Illinois (Katie Reed) […]
In late June of 2002, residents of Monroe County began to fall ill with Salmonella infections. As their illnesses were confirmed by laboratory testing, hospitals and doctors began reporting the illnesses to the Monroe County Health Department. By June 22, the total number of confirmed cases had reached 17. According to the Health Department, the […]
On May 12, 2004, the Oregon State Public Health Laboratory identified a cluster of five patients infected with Salmonella Enteritidis (SE). The isolates of these patients stool cultures were found to be genetically indistinguishable through the use of pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE). The five patients were from four Oregon counties and had onsets of illness […]
Pennsylvania State health officials first learned of a potential HAV outbreak from emergency room doctors in Beaver County, who reported an unusually high number of hepatitis A cases in late October, 2003. Investigators from the health department began investigating the people who had fallen ill, and determined that the common thread for all was having […]
On June 30, 2002, the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service (“FSIS”) announced the recall of 354,200 pounds of ground beef manufactured at the ConAgra Beef Company (“ConAgra”) plant in Greeley, Colorado. According to ConAgra’s Vice President Jim Herlihy, “one sample of the product tested positive [for E. coli O157:H7], so what ConAgra did was […]
In early July 2004, while conducting routine surveillance, Pennsylvania Department of Health (PDOH) personnel noted an increase in reported Salmonella Group D infections occurring in state residents. Salmonella is a reportable disease in Pennsylvania and laboratories throughout the state are asked to submit isolates to the PDOH Public Health Laboratory (PHL) for serotyping. By July […]
Between early May and early June 2005 the Michigan Department of Community Health (MDCH) identified 11 state residents as being infected with an indistinguishable genetic strain of Salmonella Typhimurium as determined by pulsed field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) analysis. Eight of the cases were reported in children and five of the cases had required hospitalization. Interviews […]
On June 30, 2005 the Minnesota Department of Health notified the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that four cases of Salmonella Typhimurium (S. Typhimurium) with an indistinguishable Pulsed Field Gel Electrophoresis (PFGE) subtype (CDC PulseNet pattern JPXX01.1173) had been identified. This subtype was new to the PulseNet database. Illness onset dates ranged […]
On September 12, 2005 Public Health Seattle King County received an unusual number of E. coli O157:H7 reports. Case interviews by county investigators subsequently revealed that three unrelated residents of King County and one Pierce County resident had all eaten at the same Olive Garden restaurant in Federal Way on September 1, 2005. All four […]
On June 9, 2005 FSIS issued Recall Notification Report 026-2005, announcing the recall of approximately 63,580 pounds of frozen ground beef patties and meatballs manufactured by Murry’s Inc., a Lebanon, Pennsylvania company. See Recall Notification Report 026-2005, Exhibit No. 1. The recall was deemed a Class I recall and was initiated after the New Jersey […]
On September 7, 2005 Rebecca O’Donnell, Infection Control Nurse at the Albany Medical Center Hospital, informed Marcia Fabiano at the Albany County Health Department (ACHD) that Erika Boehlke was hospitalized at AMCH with a diagnosis of Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome (HUS). Preliminary laboratory testing of Erika’s stool had been conducted at St. Peter’s Hospital, and tests […]
On September 14, 2005 the Concord Hospital laboratory submitted an E. coli O157:H7 isolate to the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services (NHDHHS) Public Health Laboratory (PHL) for confirmatory testing. The isolate had been cultured from a stool sample obtained from Hercules Tsirovakas. The next day the Communicable Disease Control and Surveillance section […]
E. coli O157:H7 outbreaks associated with lettuce or spinach, specifically the “pre-washed” and “ready-to-eat” varieties sold under various brand and trade names, are by no means a new phenomenon. In October 2003, 13 residents of a California retirement center were sickened and 2 died after eating E. coli-contaminated “pre-washed” spinach. In September 2003, nearly 40 […]