Researcher Dr. Prysor Williams said: “We are taking small samples of blood and saliva and looking for antibodies in the samples. That will tell us if that individual has been exposed to 0157. If antibodies are present it shows that that individual has a degree of immunity because all the volunteers are not patients.”

The story reports that the study’s findings could help in the search for an E. coli vaccine, and that repeated exposure over a long period of time may be protecting these farmers from the otherwise harmful pathogen. The Scotsman story reports that the Grampain region is said to have one of the highest E. coli infection rates in the world, and results of the study suggest a much higher rate of antibodies among that region’s population. According to the story:

Rates of E coli 0157 in Scotland are higher than the rest of the UK. Last year, there were 4.6 cases per 100,000 people in Scotland, compared with fewer than two per 100,000 in England. In Grampian there were 11.1 cases per 100,000…The reasons for the higher rates in Scotland remain unclear.

The potentially life-threatening bacteria, E. coli O157:H7, colonize in cattle’s gastrointestinal tracts and can live there because the bacteria is harmful to humans but not cattle. Fecal matter from the environments in which the cattle are raised can spread and contaminate meat during the slaughtering process, and/or contaminate surrounding water supplies and groundwater that can lead to contamination of produce growing in the surrounding areas.

Researchers, however, are gaining insight into how E coli bacteria grow and survive inside cattle. The University of Idaho study shows that E. coli O157:H7 bacteria have chemical signals that allow it to sense their environment and activate certain genes in the cattle that help the bacteria colonize in cattle’s guts. And the ability to disrupt that signal could hold the key to preventing the life-threatening pathogen from growing inside the cattle, researchers say. This could potentially be done through feed additives that would block the transmission of that chemical signal.

E. coli Prevention: What you can do

Although research is an important component of E. coli poisoning prevention, the truth is that E. coli bacteria can still be found in foods, beverages and water sources. According to food safety attorney Fred Pritzker:

“Preventive measures by the meat industry may reduce the number of cattle that carry E. coli and the frequency of contamination of meat during processing. But since research into such prevention measures is just beginning, it is important that you understand the steps you can take to protect yourself and your family.”

E. coli Prevention

• Cook meat thoroughly
• Keep a clean kitchen
• Drink pasteurized beverages
• Wash fruits and vegetables thoroughly
• Wash your hands

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.

In this particular case, an Iowa toddler became sick from E. coli-contaminated well water that served as the water supply to the rural home her family rented. In May of 2007 she became sick with symptoms of an E. coli infection, including severe diarrhea and abdominal pain. She was hospitalized and her symptoms worsened as the pathogen infected her blood. Her condition, known as hemolytic uremic syndrome ( HUS), destroyed her red blood cells and kept the kidneys from serving their purpose as filters that clean and remove waste from the bloodstream.

She was put on kidney dialysis and remained in the hospital for about a month. Even three years later, she has permanent kidney damage and will continue to require medication and treatment, and could need a kidney transplant later in life.

Employees of the Iowa county where the home is located tested tap water from the house in June of 2007 and the results were positive for E. coli. The home is surrounded by pasture land, and cattle are known to graze on land uphill from the well. Expert witnesses, including a PhD environmental engineer from a major university and a PhD microbiologist from another major university specializing in E-coli, were hired to examine the situation and confirmed that cattle manure in rainwater most likely drained into the well and contaminated the water with the pathogen.

Although settlement earned for this young girl will help offset past and future medical expenses, they cannot undo the suffering this family has experienced. Nor will the settlement change the fact that property owners have a duty to their tenants to provide safe, clean drinking water—a duty that the property owner in this case has failed to fulfill.

Quoting the Washington State Department of Agriculture, KING5-TV attributed the spill to a breached lagoon wall on the Bartelheimer Brothers dairy operation.

The state Department of  Health is closely monitoring the problem, but there appeared to be no immediate threat to public drinking water systems, the station reported.  People in the area with private wells are advised to consult with the health department about potential risks.

The lagoon is only 12 years old. It was built to hold 21 million gallons of manure and 10 feet of the 15-foot-deep facility was above ground level. All contents above ground level spilled out, according to the report.

Officials are monitoring the river and an accompanying slough to track harm to fish populations and people are being urged to stay away from the river to avoid E. coli poisoning.

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.

Now she is a member of  Chicago-based S.T.O.P.-Safe Tables Our Priority, which  is renewing its plea to the USDA to declare disease-causing E. coli types other than E. coli O157:H7 as adulterants in beef and  begin testing for them. National food safety law firm Pritzker Olsen and many other supporters of S.T.O.P. have made the same request.

 
The USDA declared E. coli O157:H7 an adulterant in ground beef in 1994 in the aftermath of a west coast outbreak that sickened over 700 people and killed at least 4.  Adulterant status makes it illegal to sell contaminated product — knowingly or unknowingly. With it comes an obligation to test for the pathogen.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has identified 6 additional strains of shiga-toxin producing E. coli (STEC) — O26, O111, O103, O121, O45 and O145 — that are associated with severe illness and death. Shiga-toxin — whether it comes from the O157:H7 bug or any other bug attacks red blood cells with the same life-threatening result.

Just like E. coli O157:H7, these other STEC strains are found in cattle and get into our beef supply when feces contaminate the meat during slaughter and processing.  The powerful toxin, which has no antidote, can lead to renal failure, cause strokes, damage neuro systems and create heart problems. It leads to hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) and thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP), two life-threatening complications of STEC infection.

“You can’t find what you’re not looking for and USDA needs to start actively looking for these pathogens,” Dana said in a press release issued by S.T.O.P.  ”It’s too late for Kayla, but not too late for others.”

Nancy Donley, S.T.O.P.’s President, whose 6-year-old son died from E. coli O157:H7-contaminated ground beef,  said that in 2007 and 2008 USDA had public meetings on this issue, but failed to enact any prevention-based strategy.  Instead, USDA declared that it would first conduct testing of ground beef and components to determine the extent of non-O157 STEC and implement a regulatory program if needed.
 
“While S.T.O.P. has no objection to conducting a baseline study, we object to holding up declaring these additional E. coli strains as adulterants in beef,” Donley said.

Already since December 24, more than 1 million pounds of beef products have been recalled because they had potential to be contaminated with E. coli O157:H7.

Separate stories this week by USA Today  reporter Elizabeth Weise and by Scott Canon of  the Kansas City Star highlight an important trend in the battle: Intervention at the farm and feedlot level to reduce levels of the bacteria in animals’ guts and hides before they reach slaughter.

“The theory is that animals are carrying higher levels of E. coli during the summer months, and sometimes they may overwhelm the systems in place to control pathogen contamination in (processing) plants,”  said James Marsden, a professor of food safety and security at Kansas State University.

As the USA Today story noted, new interventions are intended to flatten out the curve between winter months when less bacteria is entering the system and the April-September period when cattle shed higher concentrations of E. coli O157:H7 and external temperatures are more suitable for the  pathogens to cluster.

Each new method, it is hoped, might take down the incidence of E. coli O157:H7 by a factor of 100. Together they could substantially lower the toll inflicted by the disease, which can cause cramps, bloody diarrhea, kidney failure and death. More than 5 percent of infections lead to life-threatening hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) or thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP).

What follows is a quick run-down on some of the methods being employed to reduce the overall universe of E. coli O157:H7 in cattle: 

• Phages:  Cattle walk through a car-wash-like spray of bacteria-eating viruses called phages.  These viruses are harmless to humans and have been successfully used to kill a spotting bacteria on tomatoes and peppers in agricultures.
• Probiotics: Basically these are bacterial cultures much like those in yogurt, given to cattle in their feed. They’re called “competitive exclusion” cultures because they out-compete the bad bacteria and exclude them in the animals’ guts. The challenge to these is that they are hard to consistenting administer in large feedlot conditions.
• Diet:  Research in Texas, Kansas and Idaho has shown that switching cattle from grain to a more expensive diet of high quality hay before slaughter may lower E. coli O157:H7 rates, though the findings have not always been consistent.
• Vaccine: Cargill Meat Solutions is in the midst of  an active vaccination program in 100,000 cattle that will reach slaughter this spring. At an estimated cost of $3 to $10 per animal, vaccination against E. coli appears to have the potential to dramatically hinder the population of E. coli in the guts of cattle. A Minnesota-made vaccine called Epitopix already is in trial in the U.S. and Canada has its own E. coli vaccine that could possibly gain approval in the U.S.

From an epidemiologic standpoint, it’s clear that these pre-slaughter interventions lower the E. coli  O157:H7 burden in the cattle, says Guy Loneragan, a professor of animal science and expert in O157:H7 in cattle at West Texas A&M University in Canyon, Texas.

The research adds to similar efforts in the private sector that are now in use and in trial in the U.S. and Canada.

The vaccines are designed to prevent E. coli O157:H7 from proliferating inside cattle, which would reduce contamination of meat at the packinghouse and have other benefits.

E. coli ground beef outbreaks have been numerous in the past two years and there is currently an active restaurant steak E. coli outbreak that has involved a major recall of beef products from five restaurant chains, including Applebees and Olive Garden.

Besides combatting the dangerous spread of E. coli O157:H7 in beef, reduced shedding of the microbe into the animals’ manure would help protect produce fields, too. Manure-borne E. coli can be moved by rainfall into irrigation water, and can contaminate fruits, vegetables or other crops, increasing risk of a E. coli HUS outbreaks of foodborne illness.

The USDA vaccines were developed by Agricultural Research Service microbiologists Vijay K. Sharma and Thomas A. Casey. In preliminary tests, Holstein calves were immunized at age 3 months with a placebo or either form of the vaccine. Six weeks later, the animals were given a dose of  E. coli O157:H7, and, for the next 18 days, their manure was tested for evidence of the microbe. Calves that received either vaccine had reduced or non-detectable levels of E.coli in their manure within only a few days after being inoculated with the bacteria, Sharma and Casey found.

Eating contaminated food is still far and away the most common way for people to become infected with E. coli O157:H7, a deadly pathogen that sickens more than 70,000 Americans each year.

But national food safety law firm PritzkerOlsen Attorneys is reminding families early in 2009 that contact with animals at livestock shows, petting zoos and other exhibits is another proven way for the organism to travel.

The law firm’s warning stems from a current E. coli O157:H7 outbreak in Colorado. Health officials there are investigating an apparent connection between a growing number of genetically matched infections and attendance at the recent Western National Stock Show in Denver.

According to numerous press reports, at least 20 people who live on the Front Range in Colorado have been infected with the same strain of E. coli. Sixteen of the illnesses are in children who attended the animal exhibit, including a child who is 17 months old. The two-week show drew more than 643,000 attendees before it ended January 25 and health officials expect the number of E. coli O157:H7 infections in the current outbreak to grow.

“This outbreak should not have happened and could have been prevented,” said Fred Pritzker, founder and president of PritzkerOlsen. “When stock shows encourage or permit public contact with animals, there is a well known risk of E. coli O157:H7 infection and equally well known measures that should be in place to prevent such infections.”

Pritzker said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Association of State Public Health Veterinarians, Inc. (NASPHV) published a compendium of such infection prevention measures almost four years ago.

“Although the matter is still under investigation, it seems likely that rules of this sort were not implemented or followed,” he said.

Escherichia coli O157:H7 is a rare variety of E. coli that produces a toxin that causes severe damage to the lining of the intestine. Specifically, the acute disease caused by E. coli O157:H7 is hemorrhagic colitis. E. coli O157:H7 can also result in hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), the leading cause of kidney failure in children in the United States.

With the understanding that children are more at risk for being seriously injured or killed by E. coli O157:H7 infection, it is imperative for families and school groups to take precautions while attending petting zoos, livestock shows and other animal exhibits.

Based on guidelines set by the (CDC) and the National Ag Safety Database, PritzkerOlsen presents the following strategies to reduce the risk of E. coli transmission in settings with animals:

• Locate hand-washing stations and always wash your hands after being in an area with animals, even if you don’t touch them. Bacteria can be spread by shaking hands, touching railings or coming in contact with soil.
• Running water and soap are best for hand washing. Where there is no running water, hand sanitizing gel is better than nothing.
• Don’t consume food or drinks in any area shared with animals.
• Older adults, pregnant women, people with weakened immune systems and young children should be extra careful.
• Avoid hand-mouth activities such as smoking, drinking or nail biting in any area shared with animals.
• Do not eat or drink raw (unpasteurized) milk or other dairy products.
• Children younger than 5 years old need adult supervision around animals.
• Never allow children to put their hands, toys, pacifiers or other objects in their mouths while around animals.
• Supervise the hand washing of children.
• Even after hand washing, be aware that exposure to E. coli O157:H7 can come from shoes, contaminated clothing or even strollers that were in areas shared with animals.