Food-Borne Illnesses Declining: CDC
By MARILYNN MARCHIONE
The AssociatedPress
SAN FRANCISCO —
Despite this month's outbreak of E.coli illness linked to contaminated spinach, Americans are much safer today from food-borne illness than they were 10 years ago, experts at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control reported Friday.
In fact, cases of sickness linked to tainted food for the year 2005 were far below 1996-1998 levels, in nearly every illness category, the Associated Press reported. The new CDC statistics, culled from its FoodNet tracking system, were presented at a conference of the American Society for Microbiology in San Francisco.
For example, cases of yersinia poisoning have fallen by nearly half in the last decade, shigella cases declined by 43 percent and listeria illness fell by 32 percent. Cases of the most dangerous strain of E. coli, called O157, fell by 29 percent over the 10-year period and salmonella cases declined by 9 percent. Only cases of infection with vibrio -- a bug found in raw oysters -- rose significantly during the ten-year period, by 41 percent, the CDC said.
Still, the CDC estimates that food-borne germs continue to sicken 76 million Americans each year, sending 323,000 to hospitals and killing about 5,000. The recent spinach-linked outbreak caused 1 death and hospitalized 97 people.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Friday lifted its warning on eating spinach, except for specific brands packaged on certain days by Natural Selection Foods LLC of San Juan Batista, Calif., and the companies it supplied.
On the same day, agency officials warned consumers that certain lots of Bolthouse Farms Carrot Juice have been linked to four cases of botulism.
The products include all Bolthouse Farms Carrot Juice sold in 450 ml and 1-liter plastic bottles, with "best if used by" dates of Nov. 11, 2006, or earlier, the AP reported.
The botulism cases were linked to poor refrigeration of the product once consumers brought it home. Carrot juice, even if pasteurized, should always be refrigerated until use, the FDA said.
In the latest case a Florida woman suffered paralysis, a symptom of botulism poisoning. Other symptoms include double vision, droopy eyelids and trouble speaking and swallowing.
