The European Union reports 50 European deaths, 4,236 Ill with 898 suffering from hemolytic uremic syndrome:
The World Health Organization reports similar numbers of The European Union reports 50 European deaths, 4,136 Ill with 896 suffering from hemolytic uremic syndrome (a few days behind), but includes numbers from the United States:
I spoke to Molly
I must admit, I am still feeling a bit depressed over the FDA’s revision to its website and the lack of any interest in it. Thankfully, I have many an internet friend who kindly thought sending me a story about one Mr. Jones who claims he found a grisly mouse in a bag of Dole
According to French news sources, four new patients, including a baby in a coma, were admitted between Monday and Tuesday at University Hospital of Lille, according to the Regional Agency health (ARS). The baby, aged 20 to 30 months, was admitted to the ICU of the hospital on a ventilator and dialysis, said the
I am old enough to remember when Politburo members would disappear from photos, and I was bothered by the Europeans when I posted – “EFSA and ECDC Change Published Risk Assessment because “some key partners involved felt that it may unnecessarily harm the company to publish its name while the investigations (into E. coli O104:H4 Outbreak) are still ongoing” – a few days ago, but, this really, in the U.S., the day after the 4th of July?
U.S. FDA CFSAN Deputy Director Donald Kraemer made a statement on June 3, 2011 regarding the E. coli O104:H4 outbreak in Europe. This statement was published on the FDA Web site and on various news Web sites. I touted it a day ago in my post – “The FDA considers any disease-causing strain of E. coli in food to be illegal. What is FSIS’s Position?”
Now the FDA Web site has a statement with different words than the original one.
The original paragraph read (my emphasis):
“Food growers, manufacturers and distributors are responsible for marketing safe food and taking any steps necessary to ensure that their products are indeed safe,” said Donald Kraemer, deputy director of the FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition. “The FDA considers any disease-causing strain of E. coli in food to be illegal. The FDA has provided scientific guidance to the produce industry on ways to minimize the risk of E. coli, and these methods will reduce the risk of the strain of E. coli causing the European outbreak as well as the more common strains.”
The new paragraph reads:
“Food growers, manufacturers and distributors are responsible for marketing safe food and taking any steps necessary to ensure that their products are indeed safe,” said Donald Kraemer, deputy director of the FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition. “The FDA has provided scientific guidance to the produce industry on ways to minimize the risk of E. coli, and these methods will reduce the risk of the strain of E. coli causing the European outbreak as well as the more common strains.”
The bold and italic sentence – “The FDA considers any disease-causing strain of E. coli in food to be illegal” – has been removed from the FDA Web site. The FDA Web site does not mention this change nor the reason for this revision.
There are about 1,000 subscribers to my blog and over 10,000 visitors a day – many in government and the media. Do you think someone will ask the FDA about the revision?
FYI:
Donald W. Kraemer, Deputy Director, U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, College Park, MD, Phone: 301-436-2429, E-mail: donald.kraemer@fda.hhs.gov
See below for the original and revised releases:Continue Reading The FDA and Revisionist History of its Position on non-O157 E. coli
The European Union has banned imports of Egyptian fenugreek seeds after they were linked to E. coli O104:H4 outbreaks in Germany and France that has sickened over 4,200 and killed 50 throughout Europe and the Untied States.
“The analysis of information from the French and German outbreaks leads to the conclusion that an imported lot
I was rereading the June 3, 2011 Food and Drug Administration (FDA) statement on the E. coli O104:H4 outbreak in Europe on my flight from Seattle to Boston today thinking about my upcoming meeting with a man who has spent over 30 days hospitalized from eating E. coli – tainted fenugreek sprouts.
On June 3
The European Food Safety Authority reports as of July 4 – 892 HUS cases, including 32 deaths, and 3,281 non-HUS cases, including 17 deaths, have so far been reported. The table below shows the distribution of reported cases per country. Since the last update, Germany reports no additional HUS case, 48 additional non-HUS STEC cases. 24 EHEC and 2 HUS cases fell ill within the last 10 days (June 22- July 1). The last known date of illness onset in a patient with confirmed EHEC O104 was June 26, 2011. The last reported date of illness onset among all cases (also without O104 confirmation) was June 27, 2011. With regards to the outbreak in France (Bordeaux Region), eight cases of bloody diarrhoea and a further eight HUS cases have been identified as of 30 June. Infection with E. coli O104:H4 has been confirmed for six patients with HUS. Eleven of the patients had attended the event in Bègles, where nine reported having eaten sprouts; it concerns seven women and four men, between 31 and 64 years of age.
A bit behind the times, the World Health Organization reports as of June 30 cases of and deaths from E. coli (EAggEC VTEC) O104:H4 infection since the beginning of the outbreak in Germany on 1 May 2011, now including the cases from the outbreak in the Bordeaux region of France. In total, 16 countries in Europe and North America have reported 4137 cases of E. coli O104:H4 infection, including 50 fatalities.
Even further behind the times, the CDC reports as of June 22 that Germany’s Robert Koch Institute (RKI) reports 823 patients with hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS)–a type of kidney failure that is associated with Shiga toxin-producing E. coli, or STEC, infections–and 29 deaths associated with HUS.
In the United States, five confirmed cases and one suspect case of STEC O104:H4 infections have been identified; one death has been reported. Of these six cases, five recently traveled to Germany, where they were likely exposed. The bacterial isolates from the three HUS cases reported in Massachusetts, Michigan and Wisconsin, and two cases with Shiga toxin-positive diarrheal illness reported in Michigan and North Carolina, have been confirmed as matching the outbreak strain. The Michigan case with Shiga toxin-positive diarrheal illness did not travel to Germany, but likely acquired this infection through close contact with the Michigan case with HUS. Arizona has reported one death in a HUS case with recent travel to Germany. This case has not yet been confirmed to have STEC O104:H4 and is currently under investigation
I will be landing in Boston in a few hours to meet with the Massachusetts victim and his family.
With nearly 4,200 Sickened and at least 50 Dead in E. coli O104:H4 Outbreak in Europe (with some ill here in U.S. too), it might be easy to forget what has been happening here. Here is a sampler of E. coli Outbreaks in Idaho, Alabama, Tennessee, Virginia, Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana and Washington:Continue Reading Nearly 4,200 Sickened and at least 50 Dead in E. coli O104:H4 Outbreak
Non-O157 E. colis – What us worry in the United States? Hell, let’s stop testing produce!
According to French news reports (via Google translator), a 78-year-old Bordeaux woman, unrelated to the group of Bordeaux E. coli O104:H4 cases, died Friday at the University Hospital of Bordeaux after being infected with E. coli O145. At least
Moyie Springs, Idaho-Evergreen Fresh Sprouts, LLC announced a voluntary recall of Alfalfa Sprouts and Spicy Sprouts because it has the potential to be contaminated with Salmonella. The recalled sprouts have been linked to a multistate outbreak of Salmonella infections.
As of June 27, 2011, a total of 21 individuals, including three hospitalizations, infected with outbreak
John Stucke of the The Spokesman-Review reported a few moments ago that at least five kitchen workers at Camp Lutherhaven have been sickened by E. coli O26 according to Idaho Panhandle Health officials.
Three more staffers are ill, but lab tests haven’t linked it to the bacterial infection. No one has been hospitalized and the
