India, Mexico Ahead Of China On Food Products Rejected By U.S.
Official records show that India and Mexico top the list of countries whose defective food products are rejected by the United States. Surprisingly, China, which is being hammered for defective food exports to the United States, comes only third in the list available from
Ordeal leaves family wary – Local couple troubled about food safety after kids’ illness from snack
Cathleen Crowley, of the Albany Times Union, met with our clients, the Scheel family yesterday to see how consumers feel about being poisoned by food that is supposed to be healthy, The Scheels buy the best groceries for their 20-month-old triplets, Sydney, Cole and Michael. The toddlers rarely eat junk food. Organic, gourmet and fresh food are the staples of their diet.
“They eat better than us,” said their mother, Elex Scheels.
That’s why the Voorheesville family was shocked when they were swept into this spring’s Veggie Booty salmonella outbreak. Sydney and Cole were among 60 people nationwide and 15 in New York to suffer salmonella poisoning after eating the puffed rice and corn treats advertised as “gourmet” and “natural.” Almost all of the victims were toddlers.Continue Reading Salmonella Wandsworth Veggie Booty Sickens Two of the Triplets
Outbreak reaches 19; lawyer [Bill Marler] predicts ground beef most likely source
Steve Doyle of the Huntsville Times and I spoke for over an hour on Wednesday about E. coli O157:H7 as a foodborne bacteria generally and specifically on the impacts on a community like Huntsville when the bacteria strikes. Although lettuce served at Little
Andrew Bridges of AP Washington again breaks more on the Veggie Booty Salmonella Wandsworth case:
A New Jersey spice importer supplied the salmonella-contaminated seasoning used on snack food that has sickened 60 people, most of them infants and toddlers, the company recalling the snacks said Thursday. Robert’s American Gourmet Inc. purchased the seasoning from Atlantic
To date we have been retained by 29 families of 32 ill children. Hopefully, we are seeing the end of the increasing number of ill people. We have filed one lawsuit thus far in Federal Court in New York.
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Public health officials in OutbreakNet (the network of epidemiologists and other public health officials, facilitated by
Officials: Lettuce likely caused E. coli outbreak in north Alabama
Health officials say shredded lettuce served at a Huntsville restaurant was probably the source of an E. coli bacteria outbreak that has sickened 18 people in the past week. All signs point to lettuce served by Little Rosie’s Taqueria as the probable culprit. Three remain
According to the Hunstville Times, three people who have eaten bacteria-tainted lettuce at a popular Huntsville restaurant (Little Rosie’s) are suffering kidney failure, a top Madison County health official said today. Five-year-old Samuel Coggin of Meridianville was scheduled to start dialysis Tuesday evening at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Two female victims also remain hospitalized with kidney problems: a 48-year-old woman in critical condition at Huntsville Hospital; and a 70-year-old woman undergoing dialysis in Asheville, N.C.
They are suffering from Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome (HUS)
The following is a comprehensive description of hemolytic uremic syndrome, its symptoms, and the complications and long-term risks associated with HUS.
Hemolytic uremic syndrome is a severe, life-threatening complication of an E. coli bacterial infection that was first described in 1955, and is now recognized as the most common cause of acute kidney failure in childhood. E. coli O157:H7 is responsible for over 90% of the cases of HUS that develop in North America. In fact, some researchers now believe that E. coli O157:H7 is the only cause of HUS in children.
HUS develops when the toxin from E. coli bacteria, known as Shiga-like toxin (SLT) [1,2], enters cells lining the large intestine. The Shiga-toxin triggers a complex cascade of changes in the blood. Cellular debris accumulates within the body’s tiny blood vessels and there is a disruption of the inherent clot-breaking mechanisms. The formation of micro-clots in the blood vessel-rich kidneys leads to impaired kidney function and can cause damage to other major organs.
What are the Symptoms associated with Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome?
About ten percent of individuals with E. coli O157:H7 infections (mostly young children) goes on to develop Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome, a severe, potentially life-threatening complication. HUS is an extremely complex process that researchers are still trying to fully explain.
The essence of Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome is described by its three central features: destruction of red blood cells (hemolytic anemia), destruction of platelets (those blood cells responsible for clotting, resulting in low platelet counts, or thrombocytopenia), and acute renal failure. In HUS, renal failure is caused when the nephrons, or filtering units, become occluded (blocked) by micro-thrombi, which are tiny blood clots. In almost all cases, the filtering ability of the kidneys recovers as the body of the patient slowly dissolves the micro-thrombi within the microvessels.
A typical person is born with about one million filtering units, called nephrons, in each kidney. The core of the nephron is a bundle of tiny blood vessels, called a glomerulus, where osmotic exchange allows for the filtration of wastes that eventually collect in the urine and are excreted. During Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome, the lack of blood flow to the nephrons can cause them to die or be damaged, just as heart muscle can die as the result of coronary vessel occlusion during a heart attack. Dead nephrons do not regenerate.
In general, the longer a patient suffers kidney failure, the greater the loss of filtering units as a result. At some point, the damage to the kidneys’ filtering units can be so severe that the patient will, over a period of years, lose kidney function and suffer end-stage renal disease (ESRD), which requires chronic dialysis or transplantation.
HUS can also cause transient or permanent damage to other organs, which include the pancreas, liver, brain, and heart. The essential pathogenic process is the same regardless of the organ affected: microthrombi inhibit necessary blood flow and cause tissue death or damage. During the acute stage of Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome, patients must be carefully monitored for these extra-renal complications. It is very difficult to predict the severity and course of HUS once it initiates.
The active stage of Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome may be defined as that period of time during which there is evidence of hemolysis and the platelet count is less than 100,000. In HUS, the active stage usually lasts an average of six days (range, 2-16 days). It is during the active stage that the complications of HUS per se usually occur.
What are the complications and long-term risks associated with Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome?
Several studies have demonstrated that children with HUS who have apparently recovered will develop hypertension, urinary abnormalities and/or renal insufficiency during long-term follow-up.
End Stage Renal Disease, Dialysis and Kidney Transplantation – please keep reading below:Continue Reading Three suffering kidney failure (HUS) from Alabama E. coli poisoning
Steve Doyle of the Huntsville Times has been taking a crash course on E. coli O157:H7. It also appears that many of the Little Rosie’s customers have become extremely ill – several developing HUS. His story this morning points to the difficulty at times in pinpointing the actual source of a bacterial illness.
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China today executed the former head of its food and drug watchdog agency, who had become a symbol of the country’s wide-ranging problems on product safety. Zheng Xiaoyu’s execution was confirmed by State Food and Drug Administration spokeswoman Yan Jianyang at a news conference held to highlight efforts to improve China’s track record on food
The Huntsville Times reported on the expanding outbreak linked to Little Rosie’s Taqueria.
Eight more people have tested positive for the potentially deadly foodborne illness, bringing the total to 15. Most of the victims are children or young adults. Five people remain hospitalized: two each at Huntsville Hospital and Crestwood Medical Center; and one at
