E. coli in Well Water Puts McLeod, ND Residents on Alert
Well water has tested positive for E. coli in the tiny town of McLeod, North Dakota, according to local news sources.
The water that supplies residents of this tiny town 55 miles southwest of Fargo comes from local wells that use groundwater. These wells have tested positive for E. coli contamination twice since 1986, news reports indicate. North Dakota state health officials plan on testing every well in the town on Monday.
E. coli Well Water Lawsuit
E. coli safety attorney Elliot Olsen recently settled a case on behalf of an Iowa toddler who became sick with E. coli poisoning after consuming the water that supplied the rural home her family rented. In May of 2007 she came down withsymptoms of an E. coli infection, including severe diarrhea and abdominal pain. She was hospitalized and her symptoms worsened as the pathogen infected her blood. She developed a condition called hemolytic uremic syndrome (E. coli HUS) that destroys red blood cells and keeps kidneys from serving their function as filters that remove waste from the bloodstream.
She was on dialysis and in the hospital for a month and still has long-term kidney damage even now, three years after her initial illness. She could need a kidney transplant later in life.
How Does E. coli Contaminate Well Water?
Because harmful strains of E. coli can live in animal and human digestive systems, they can therefore be found in animal and human waste. After any kind of precipitation—a rainfall, a snowmelt—E. coli from animal or human fecal matter can wash into groundwater, rivers, lakes and streams. This can consequently contaminate water sources and, if the water isn’t sufficiently treated, can make people seriously sick.
According to the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC):
- Over 15 million U.S. households rely on private, household wells for drinking water.
- If polluted ground water is consumed, it could cause illness. Ground water pollution can be caused by seepage through landfills, failed septic tanks, underground fuel tanks, fertilizers and pesticides, and runoff from urban areas.
- It is important that private ground water wells are checked regularly to ensure that the water is safe for drinking.
- Typically, private water systems that serve no more than 25 people at least 60 days of the year and have no more than 15 service connections are not regulated by the EPA.
Source: http://www.wday.com/event/article/id/36320/
Raw Milk E. coli Outbreak Linked to Hartmann Dairy Farm in Minnesota
The Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) has released new evidence that an E. coli outbreak that has sickened at least 5 Minnesotans is linked to raw milk products from the Hartmann Dairy Farm in Gibbon, Minnesota. The strain of E. coli bacteria that sickened these people came from Hartmann Dairy Farm, according to the MDH.
Several victims were hospitalized, including a toddler with hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), which is a serious complication that can arise from E. coli poisoning and can do life-long kidney damage to patients, especially the very young and the elderly. These illnesses occurred throughout the state of Minnesota. Initially, the common link between these illnesses, health officials say, was that they had all consumed products from the Hartmann dairy farm. This epidemiological link, however, is now reinforced by the MDH’s confirmation through microbiological testing that the strain of E. coli found on the farm is the same strain found in the patients. Additionally, the MDH reports:
“…the specific strain of E. coli O157:H7 found in the ill patients has also been found in multiple animals and at multiple sites on the Hartmann farm. This strain of E. coli has not previously been found in Minnesota. Furthermore, laboratory tests confirmed that cheese samples collected last week from the farm contained another form of Shiga toxin-producing E. coli, demonstrating that an ongoing pathway of contamination existed on the farm.”
The food safety lawyers at Pritzker Olsen attorneys currently represent a man sickened from raw milk contaminated with Campylobacter. He developed Guillain-Barre syndrome as is now paralyzed. Our attorneys are all too familiar with the dangers that can arise from consuming raw milk.
What is Raw Milk? Why Can it Make Us Sick?
Most milk in the supermarket is pasteurized in order to kill potentially harmful bacteria, such as E. coli and Campylobacter. However, some people believe raw, or unpasteurized milk is more nutritious than pasteurized milk and choose to drink it. Public health organizations such as the Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the American Medical Association, the World Health Organization and the American Academy of Pediatrics all advocate pasteurization as a standard practice.
The Minnesota Department of Agriculture restricts the sale of raw milk to occasional sales of milk directly from the farmer to consumer. If consumers choose to drink raw milk, the MDA urges that they:
- Do their homework: consumers should educate themselves on how to consume raw milk SAFELY and RESPONSIBLY
- Consumers MUST go directly to the farm to get the milk, according to Minnesota law.
- Consumers MUST bring their own containers. Farmers are NOT allowed to bottle their own raw milk for sale.
Peppa’s South King Restaurant E coli Cases Prompt Closure
In Hawaii, a Notice of Permit Suspension and Order to Cease and Desist has been issued to Peppa’s South King restaurant, a Korean BBQ restaurant cited for food handling violations as part of an E. coli O157:H7 outbreak investigation.
Media outlets in Honolulu are reporting that of seven victims in the Hawaii E. coli outbreak, four ate at Peppa’s Korean BBQ on South King Street in Pawaa. Hawaii Department of Health investigators found problems at the restaurant, which is now working with the agency on an intensive mitigation plan to correct permit violations.
The Honolulu Advertiser reported that the restaurant’s management will be required to attend the Sanitation Branch’s Food Safety Certification Workshop to receive training on proper food-handling practices.
Hawaii Department of Health said the seven E. coli cases were diagnosed between March 2-23 and it has reminded doctors to report any additional cases to the state. One of four victims who were hospitalized remains in serious condition.
In 5 to 15 percent of E. coli O157:H7 infections, patients develop HUS, or hemolytic uremia – a life-threatening disease that is the leading cause of kidney failure in children. But HUS is more than a kidney disease. Powerful toxins emitted by E. coli O157:H7 microbes wreak havoc in other parts of the body, too, altering brain function and sometimes leading to stroke, convulsion, coma and paralysis. A related condition, often in older adults, is known as thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura, or TTP.
Health officials have not pinpointed a cause for the outbreak, but consumption of contaminated meat — often undercooked ground beef — is the leading form of transmission. E. coli O157:H7 outbreaks also have been caused by contaminated raw milk, unpasteurized cider, sprouts, leafy green vegetables, other vegetables and fruits, including pineapple.
HUS is Leading Cause of Kidney Failure in Children
World Kidney Day is March 11 and part of raising awareness about the importance of our kidneys to our overall health is understanding that food poisoning is a major contributor to kidney failure in children.
The worldwide leading cause of kidney failure in children is hemolytic uremic syndrome, or HUS. Many of these cases are preventable because they stem from infections of E. coli O157:H7 or other bacteria transmitted by contaminated food. The bacteria grows harmlessly in the guts of cattle and other animals but persistently enter the human food supply via contamination from an animal’s E. coli-laden feces.
About 5 percent of the children who develop hemolytic uremic syndrome are killed by it. Those who survive are often left with permanent disabilities.
The main job of our kidneys is to remove toxins and excess water from our blood. Kidneys also help to control our blood pressure, to produce red blood cells and hormones, and to keep our bones healthy. E. coli HUS can quickly put previously healthy children and adults into end stage renal failure.
That happens because E. coli O157:H7 and some other types of E. coli emit a powerful toxin that attacks red blood cells. The damaged and misshaped cells clog up the kidneys and shut them down.
Because World Kidney Day — which is always held on the second Tuesday of March — is a visible opportunity to inform and educate health policy-makers, an appropriate part of the discussion is how to keep E. coli O157:H7 out of our food supply.
In the U.S., an important step forward in the fight against E. coli and other pathogens would be passage of a major piece of food safety legislation already passed by the House and now waiting action in the Senate.
Elsewhere in the U.S., government researchers and private labs are developing vaccines for cattle to suppress the microbe at its origin. Nothing, so far, has made much difference because outbreaks of E. coliO157:H7 have continued with disturbing frequency and scale.
In children and adults, HUS does more than just shut down renal function. HUS coma is a problem not uncommon in child HUS patients because many patients experience central nervous system disorders.
In addition, HUS seizures can be caused by vascular damage or cerebral hemorrhage. HUS seizures can also be caused by uremia (urea and other waste products staying in the blood due to kidney failure), hyponatremia (sodium levels are low and water levels are high) or other metabolic derangement.
Estimates are imprecise, but microbiologists guess that more than 70,000 Americans fall ill every year from E. coli bacterial infections, the largest source of which is contaminated ground beef. Of those infected, more than 5 percent develop life-threatening HUS E. coli. Those most at risk are children, older adults and others who have weakened immune systems.
Better Tracing of E coli in Hamburger
As the United States heads into warmer months when outbreaks of E. coli O157:H7 become more prevalent, USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) is holding public meetings for input on strengthening the E. coli tracing system.
Of particular concern is improving record keeping at the retail grocery level concerning the origin of ground beef, the commodity most often at the center of E. coli outbreaks. The next meeting starts at 8:30 a.m. Wednesday at the USDA South Building in Washington, D.C.
Knowing quickly and exactly the origin of every pound of beef sold at checkout could help save lives whenE. colioutbreaks happen because detailed records speed vital traceback investigations conducted by public health officials.
It’s hard to believe in 2010 that many retailers don’t keep records or that the records they keep are inadequate for tracing. Tracebacks help us identify the products that are making people sick in order to bring outbreaks under control as quickly as possible.
The current safety gap caused by improper ground beef record keeping at the retail level is acknowledged by top FSIS officials. The agency has been frustrated by the lack of records kept by retailers who grind their own ground beef. It’s essential for them to document where the bulk trimmings and cuts come from in the event a package of ground beef purchased by a consumer is later found to be contaminated with E. coli O157:H7.
If investigators can quickly identify by traceback what products are making people sick, they can also trace contaminated products forward through the distribution system and issue appropriate recalls and warnings.
Orderly documentation of what beef is used in a retail chain’s grindings also will put more pressure on suppliers to eliminate contamination. A major benefit of tracing is to allow the FSIS to assess the establishment that produced the contaminated product to detect if there’s a systemic problem at the plant.
The CDC estimates that as many as 300,000 people in the U.S. are hospitalized each year from foodborne illnesses and millions become ill and don’t even realize that it is connected to tainted food. Estimates of E. coli infection are imprecise, but microbiologists guess that more than 70,000 Americans fall ill every year from Shiga toxin-producing E. coli, the largest source of which is contaminated ground beef.
Of those infected, more than 5 percent develop life-threatening HUS E. coli, or hemolytic uremic syndrome, the leading cause of kidney failure in children and the leading cause of E. coli deaths.
The harmful microbes live in the intestines of cattle and are expelled in feces. The volume of germs surges in warmer weather and the bacteria can contaminate meat during the slaughter process when intestines are nicked or when feces flake off hides. It takes very few bacteria to make a person sick and testing doesn’t catch all lots of beef that are contaminated.
Grocery retailers can help reduce the spread of E. coli O157:H7 by pinpointing the origin of the ground beef they sell with well-kept records.
