Rare Strain of E. coli O143:H34 Found in Bagged Lettuce
While investigating an E coli O145 outbreak in romaine lettuce, Ohio Health officials found another rare strain of food poisoning: E. coli O143:H34.
While this particular pathogen has not been associated with any foodborne illnesses by health officials, E coli 0143:H34 can still cause serious food poisoning symptoms and sicken people. According to a report in The Columbus Dispatch:
“For some food-safety advocates, the finding highlights the ubiquitous nature of contamination and builds the case to expedite reforms to improve the cleanliness of the nation’s food supply.”
E. coli lawyer and food safety attorney Fred Pritzker has long been advocating similar reforms. E. coli O157 is the only form of this dangerous pathogen that is regulated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). However, as these findings show, other harmful strains of E coli can and do contaminate American consumers’ food supplies, yet they go undetected by the government agencies charged with keeping our food safe. Other forms of E coli that can cause serious illness include:
- E. coli O111
- E. coli O145
- E. coli O143:H34
- E. coli O26
- E. coli O121
- E. coli O103
- E. coli O45
E. coli infections can lead to severe health complications including hemolytic uremic syndrome (E. coli HUS), kidney failure, and long-term health issues such as hypertension. These pathogens cause serious problems and should be treated seriously by the government agencies responsible for keeping our food supply safe.
Source: http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2010/05/20/ohio-tests-detect-different-strain-of-e–coli-in-lettuce.html?type=rss&cat=&sid=101
E. coli Prevention Research Targets Pathogens in Cattle
E. coli prevention research shows evidence of progress toward keeping e coli outbreaks from happening by stopping the bacteria where it starts–inside cattle’s digestive systems, according to news reports.
Microbiologists at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center have been working with the USDA on a study that will soon be reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The study shows that it can be possible to hinder the harmful E. coli O157:H7 bacterium from colonizing in cattle in the first place, therefore lessening the likelihood that it could contaminate water and food supplies and sicken humans.
“If we can find a way to prevent these bacteria from ever colonizing in cattle, it’s possible that we can have a real impact on human disease.” said Dr. Vanessa Sperandio, associate professor of microbiology and an author of the study. Sperandio said the study is significant because the harmful pathogen is carried in about 70 to 80 percent of cattle herds in the United States. Although E coli 0157 can be deadly for humans it can live in the guts of cattle without harming them.
E. coli Vaccine Could Be Possible, Research Finds
Researchers for drug company Novartis have discovered that it could be possible to develop a vaccine for E. coli food poisoning and other illnesses cause by the harmful pathogen, Reuters reports.
The drug maker’s lab in Siena, Italy has been the site of this research, which has involved computer modeling and mice testing. Based off of the gene map of the E. coli bacterium, the researchers chose several hundred antigens common to illness-causing strains of E.coli. They administered these to mice that were then exposed to deadly amounts of disease-causing E.coli, and nine of these antigens successfully prevented infection.
The study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, stated that a combination of these antigens has the potential to create an E.coli vaccine. The hope is that human testing could begin in 2012, said researcher MariaGrazia Pizza. “The development of such a vaccine will be very challenging for the company, but if we were successful at the end, obviously it would be a big thing,” Pizza said.
E. coli Poisoning Facts
- Researchers said this potential vaccine could protect against non-foodborne illnesses resulting from E.coli poisoning as well, including urinary infections and meningitis in newborns.
- Not all strains of E. coli are harmful. Animals and humans can have E. coli in their digestive system and not get sick.
- The U.S. Department of Agriculture currently only tests food sources for E. coli O157:H7, however, that is not the only disease-causing strain.
- The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has identified six strains of E. coli that have been associated with illness and death. They are Ecoli 026, 0111, 0103, 0121, 045, and 0145.
- E. coli poisoning can result in serious conditions including hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) and thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP).
Food safety lawyers at Pritzker Olsen law firm have represented clients seriously ill with E. coli O157 and other strains as well. They have also represented the families of victims who have died from E. coli food poisoning. Cases like these require a highly specialized level of familiarity with microbiological and epidemiological evidence, food industry regulations and practices, and of course, the laws that protect the rights of foodborne illness victims.
E. coli O157 Cases Decrease in 2009
The Foodborne Diseases Active Surveillance Network (FoodNet) of CDC’s Emerging Infections Program surveillance data for 2009 found a decline in reported incidences of infection from “Shiga toxin-producting Escherichia coli (STEC) O157,” commonly referred to as E. coli O157. In 2009, a total of 459 laboratory-confirmed cases of E. coli O157 were reported. That is 41% fewer cases of E. coli O157 in 2009 than in the years from 2006 through 2008.
FoodNet also conductes surveillance for hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), a complication of an E. coli O157 infection that causes renal failure and hemolytic anemia. In 2008 (2009 data is not yet available), FoodNet identified 64 cases of postdiarrheal HUS in persons under 18 years old. Among those, 42 occurred in children under five years old.
E. coli Outbreak Detection Lacking in Half of States
When it comes to detecting and reporting outbreaks of E. coli O157:H7 and other pathogens, some state health departments are better than others.
What else could explain the large discrepancy in state by state reporting results? It’s not that certain borders are immune from bacteria.
Now there’s a study by the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) that attempts to quantify the problem, saying that at least 23 states need to improve outbreak reporting. Nationally, public health protection against outbreaks of E. coli O157:H7 and other foodborne illness provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is only as good as the reporting network of states.
CSPI’s study looked at 2007 outbreak data and used health deparments in Oregon and Minnesota as a baseline because they have excellent laboratory facilities and strict regiments for quickly interviewing subjects of food poisoning. Each state reported 10 outbreaks per million people in 2007.
According to the study, seven states had even better reporting records in 2007, including Maine, Kansas, Wyoming, Vermont, Alaska, Hawaii and North Dakota. Those states generated more reports and provided CDC with better information to prevent future outbreaks.
On the other end of the spectrum, twelve states reported just one outbreak of foodborne illness per million people, and 11 states had reporting rates almost as low.
The 23 states with the lowest reporting rates in 2007 were Delaware, Georgia, Pennsylvania, New York, and Massachusetts, each with three outbreaks per million; Missouri, New Jersey, Virginia, Alabama, West Virginia, and Kentucky, each with two outbreaks per million; and Texas, North Carolina, Indiana, Louisiana, Nebraska, Utah, Arkansas, Montana, New Mexico, Nevada, Mississippi, and Oklahoma, each reporting just one outbreak per million.
Fighting HUS E coli by Studying How to Kill it in Cattle
A microbiologist at Washington State University has received a $1 million grant from USDA’s Agriculture and Food Research Initiative to study if previous research into stopping the bacteria at its source – cattle – may be more effective once different strains of the disease are considered.
A press release from the university in Pullman, Washington, said Tom Besser, professor of veterinary microbiology has three years to delve into the subject. He says there has been promising work over the past 15 to 20 years by scientists interested in reducing the rate at which cattle get infected with E. coli O157:H7.
Besser says vaccines, beneficial bacteria or “probiotics,” and certain feeds have had some good results, but not all of the research took different E. coli strains into account. He wants to identify the seasonal variations and processes that kill clinical genotypes of E. coli O157:H7 — the types most dangerous to humans. Bovine-biased genotypes cause only a small percentage of illnesses.
A vaccine, for example, could cut incidence ofE. coli O157:H7 in half. “That could be really good if the half that it’s cutting it by is mostly clinical genotypes,” said Besser.
In humans, E. coli O157:H7 releases a powerful toxin that attacks the lining of the intestine, causing severe abdominal cramps followed by watery, then bloody diarrhea that subsides within a week or so. Sometimes the diarrhea is accompanied by vomiting and a low-grade fever.
In more than 5 percent of cases, the Shiga toxins enter the bloodstream, causing HUS E. coli, or hemolytic uremic syndrome, which can lead to kidney failure, anemia, internal bleeding, and the destruction of vital organs. About 5 percent of children who develop E. coli HUS are killed by it. Those who survive are often left with permanent disabilities, including brain damage or paralysis.
