Of those who have become sick, 14 have been confirmed to have E. coli, including two children who are still recovering in hospital, according to the CBC report. Folklorama ended August 14, but there is a risk of secondary infection. Once someone has eaten contaminated food, the infection can be passed person to person, by hand-to-mouth contact.

Mary Clifton with the Ohio Department of Health told NBC4-TV in Columbus, Ohio, that there is a push to get more rapid testing. The problem is that there is not an improved standard test yet to do rapid testing. The Ohio State research report said that better methods need to be in place to protect lakes from being contaminated in the first place. Shiga toxin-producing E. coli bacteria grow in the guts of cattle and other animals. The animals shed the pathogen  in their feces and it can be washed into waterways during rains.

Valley Meat Company E. coli Recall Retail Distribution List

Meat was recalled from stores in Arizona, California, Hawaii, Texas, Nevada, Washington and Oregon. The Recalled products were manufactured from Oct. 2009-Jan. 2010. The establishment number on the recalled frozen beef products is EST. 8268 and the production codes are 25709 through 01210.

Times Super Market
King Market
Oak Creek Market, Inc.
Four Corners Market
Anza Village Market
Big Trees Market
Spencers Fresh Market
Ponderosa Market
Banning Village Market
Rio Ranch Market
My T Fine Foods
Ben Lomand Market
Andronico’s Markets, Inc.
Manor Market Inc
Boron Food Mart, Inc.
Dinsmor Store
Mollie Stones
Mike’s Discount Food Market
P W Supermarket Inc.
Page’s Market
Al Mancasola’s Grocery Markets
Farmers Fresco Supermarket
Foods Etc.
Oaks Red and White
Colfax Sierra Market
Solano Market
The Original Irvine Ranch Market
Best Deal Food Company Inc.
Del Sol Market
El Sol Market
Erickson Supermarket
Fairway Stores
IGA
J. Solanki Meat
McKays
Mi Pueblo San Jose Inc.
Safeway
Select Markets
Super A Foods, Inc.
Super Center Concepts, Inc
Ukas Big Saver Foods
Vons
Buy-Low Market
Glazier’s Food Marketplace
Mariana’s
The Sierra Nevada Trading Company
PC Hometown Market
Two Boys Grocery
Hometown Foods Drain
Red Apple
Halsey Select Market
Jefferson Hometown Market
Stewarts Market
Martins Food Center
Mill City Market Place
Mohler Co-Op
Steve’s Market
Food 4 Less
Price Slasher
Mt Hood Foods
Jack’s Family Market
Ken & Sons Select
Shady Cove Market
Sheridan Select
Noels Market Inc
Stanfield Main St Market
Thriftway
Sentry
Main Street Market
Auburn’s Main Street Market
Matthew’s Thriftway
Ralph’s Red Apple Market
Andy’s Market
Plaza Market
Holcomb’s Market
Bridle Trails Red Apple
Cascade Mercantile
Food Emporium
Pay-Less Supermarkets

During 2007, researchers tested 127 patients infected with E. coli that appeared resistant to cephalosporin and fluoroquinolone antibiotics. Of those cases, 54 were shown to be from this new strain, E. coli ST131.

“If this strain gains one additional resistance gene, it will become almost untreatable and will be a true superbug, which is a very concerning scenario,” Johnson said. he went on to tell local news sources that, “Fortunately, there’s still one big class of drugs that [E. coli ST131 is] so far universally susceptible to,” but that those drugs are “our last line of defense.”

More research into new antibiotics, plus exercising caution when using antibiotics, are two key elements needed to address this concern, according to health experts.

Sources:

http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/health/99668604.html?page=2&c=y

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38495130/ns/health-infectious_diseases/

The enteric infections caused by these pathogens are dependent on whether the bacteria are able to colonize in the intestine. Research from a Brazilian university is helping to better understand the variety of “strategies” these pathogens use to multiply inside their hosts and infect them. According to the research:

“Diarrhea-causing pathogens employ a variety of sophisticated strategies to colonize the intestinal epithelium [tissue lining the intestine].” In essence, ingested pathogens have evolved the abilities to:

1. Resist many of the host’s defenses such as stomach acidity, peristalsis, mucosal cell exfoliation, intestinal mucins, and bacteriocins
2. Adhere to intestinal epithelia (tissue).
3. Ultimately colonize that tissue.

Sometimes that colonization involves cellular invasion. When that happens, the bacteria can spread to other tissues in the host’s body. According to the research, the pathogens attack cells in the host’s body. “The host cell, in turn, defends itself against infection by initiating an inflammatory response and by altering the intestinal fluid balance in order to extrude the unwanted bacteria, thus causing diarrhea.” Therefore, whether the infection is “successful” depends upon complex interactions between the bacteria and the host cells. The bacteria’s mission, basically, is to exploit cell machinery for their own benefit.

Source:

http://www.gutpathogens.com/content/2/1/8

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel estimated the crowd at about 450 people.

Still known as America’s Dairyland, Wisconsin this year is the center of the national raw milk debate that pits science and life-threatening illness against hard-core resistance to regulation that is based on libertarianism and disproven beliefs that raw milk has more nutritional value and other health benefits.

The Wisconsin raw milk bill, which is being discussed by the Legislature this year, would legalize the sale of raw milk, buttermilk, cream and butter within wide parameters. Farmers would be required to display a health warning sign and obtain a permit.

Many states have an outright ban against raw milk sales to protect citizens from potentially deadly microbiological contamination from cow feces.

Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection officials oppose allowing sales of raw milk to the general public, saying it could lead to outbreaks of E. coli, Campylobacter and Salmonella with deadly consequences.

“Our job is to protect public health. We believe the law, the way it’s written now, does that as best as possible,”  Steve Ingham, administrator of the agency’s food safety division, testified at Wednesday’s hearing.

Since 2000, four outbreaks of illness due to Campylobacter infection have been linked to unpasteurized milk or unpasteurized dairy products in Wisconsin. Those outbreaks sickened at least 131 people, according to the Wisconsin Division of Public Health.

Despite the good intentions of farmers, fecal poisoning of milk can’t be stopped reliably without pasteurization as a kill step.

The Wisconsin Public Health Association and Wisconsin Association of Local Health Departments and Boards have urged legislators not to legalize raw milk sales. Also opposed to the bill is the Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation, which fears that E. coli outbreaks would give the greater dairy industry a black eye.

Many experts, including the federal Food and Drug Administration, say there are no health benefits from drinking raw milk that can’t be gained from drinking pasteurized milk.

And from a financial perspective, public health departments say they would incur enormous expense investigating all the E. coli and Campylobacter outbreaks that would occur if raw milk was legalized.

The vet says writers of citations were threatened with transfers. It is easy to imagine in the culture he describes that inspectors might have looked the other way at ground beef E. coli risks to stay out of trouble with supervisors in order to keep their jobs.

The whistleblower is Dean Wyatt, a supervisory veterinarian at the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), the agency responsible for keeping E. coli O157:H7 and other potentially deadly pathogens out of our meat supply. According to USA Today reporter Peter Eisler, who obtained an advance copy of the testimony, Wyatt is to appear before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee in Washington.

Wyatt witnessed practices as an FSIS vet that would increase the risk of E. coli O157:H7 contamination. For instance, he found downed calves being dragged through pens to slaughter — a violation because contact with feces can contaminate animals.

The abuse occurred at Bushway Packing Inc. in Grand Isle, Vermont. Wyatt says he ordered suspensions in operations three times at Bushway in 2008 and early 2009 but managers overruled him and allowed the plant to keep running.

Bushway subsequently made headlines last fall when the Humane Society of the United States filmed undercover video of workers hitting and using electric prods to move calves. The plant was shut down. USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack ordered a criminal investigation.

Wyatt  also says superiors dismissed violations he reported in 2007 and 2008 at a Seaboard Foods pork plant in Guymon, Oklahoma. He cited the plant for slaughtering conscious pigs, beating pigs and trampling of pigs, USA Today is reporting.

Wyatt’s experiences “illustrate a pattern that FSIS is broken and must be fixed,”  Amanda Hitt of the Government Accountability Project, told USA Today. USDA spokesman Caleb Weaver told the newspaper that inaction on Wyatt’s reports occurred before the tenure of Vilsack, who is “fully committed” to enforcing safe and humane slaughtering rules.

Since 1993, at least 20 Escherichia coli O157:H7 outbreaks have been traced to California-grown leafy greens – primarily lettuce and spinach. Most of these outbreaks involved packaged product that, despite several chlorinated washes, contained sufficient numbers of E. coli O157:H7 to cause infection at the time of consumption.

Although the exact E. coli contamination routes for these products remain unknown,  a federal study published in September 2008  indicates that plant tissue damage from processing and also in the field can promote significant multiplication of E. coli O157:H7 over a short time.

 The research findings by the Produce Safety and Microbiology Research Unit of USDA’s Agricultural Research Service in California suggest that harvesting and processing are critical control points in the prevention or reduction of E. coli O157:H7 contamination of lettuce.

The research assessed the role of plant tissue damage (mechanical or diseased-induced lesions)  in the contamination of leafy greens with E. coli O157:H7 and the growth of the pathogen.

Within only 4 hours after inoculation, the population sizes of E. coli O157:H7 increased 4.0-, 4.5-, and 11-fold on lettuce leaves that were mechanically bruised, cut into large pieces, and shredded into multiple pieces, respectively.

During the same time, E. coli O157:H7 population sizes increased only two-fold on leaves that were left intact after harvest.

Also, the population size of E. coli O157:H7 was 27 times greater on young leaves affected by soft rot due to infection by Erwinia chrysanthemi than on healthy middle-aged leaves. Confocal microscopy revealed that leaf tip burn lesions harbored dense populations of E. coli cells both internally and externally. Investigation of the cut lettuce stems showed that the pathogen grew 11-fold over 4 hours of incubation after its inoculation.

Dr. Hagen is keenly aware of E. coli O157:H7 contamination problems in beef because she is a former top executive at USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), the agency responsible for keeping America’s meat supply safe.

Here’s the background on Dr. Hagen:

Some environmentalists in the area are questioning the wisdom of the practice, which could expand nationwide if federal regulators adopt provisions of the California Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement.

Trimming natural vegetation surrounding farm fields in the Salinas Valley, aka our nation’s Salad Bowl, was encouraged after public health investigators noted that wild boars may have been responsible for spreading E. coli O157:H7 in spinach crops in 2006. The2006 baby spinach E. coli outbreak killed three people and hospitalized more than 200 others across the country.

The practice is intended to make the edges inhospitable to wildlife, but groups like the Wild Farm Alliance are concerned that the eradication is bad for the environment.

Jo Ann Baumgartner, a member of the Alliance, told the Santa Cruz Sentinel in a story today that research by scientists at UC Davis states that the surrounding grasses and wetlands have the ability to filter up to 99 percent of E. coli when it rains.

Here’s more clips from the story:

“There is science to support that these strips of vegetation prevent the movement of pathogens,” said Andrew Gordus of California Fish and Game. “If you keep filtration systems in, you help prevent those pathogens from moving downstream.”

Dale Coke, owner of Coke Farms in Watsonville, notes that it is not just E. coli that washes downstream.

“If you’ve sprayed your fields, it goes into the water system,” said Coke, who chose not to sign the leafy greens agreement and abide by its rules. “All these pesticides and fertilizers will just end up in the streams and in the oceans.”