PA Report Points To Raw Milk Danger

Posted by Salmonella Lawyer on January 29, 2008


The potential health risks associated with raw milk consumption need to be better understood by policy makers and the public. So says a report by the Pennsylvania Departments of Health and Agriculture. It was published online today by the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Last February, the Pennsylvania Department of Health through routine electronic laboratory disease reporting, learned of two people with laboratory-confirmed infections of Salmonella enterica serotype Typhimurium.

 

Both cases reported drinking raw milk from the same York County, PA dairy farm. Other customers of the raw milk dairy were also showing up sick.

In determining the source and scope of the outbreak Pennsylvania officials found that 29 cases of diarrheal illness were caused by S. Typhimurium with the identical PFGE patterns.

Go here to read the complete report.

Organic sesame seeds may contain Salmonella

Posted by Salmonella Lawyer on January 28, 2008

Shiloh Farms has recalled organic sesame seeds that may be contaminated with Salmonella.  They were distributed in New York, Connecticut, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland and Arkansas.  Full Story

This product comes in a 12-ounce blue and white 5" x 8" plastic bag with a Shiloh Farms logo and USDA organic symbol. The UPC bar code number is 047593303545. The firm's name and address appears on the back of the plastic bag. Product distributed between November 1, 2007 and January 25, 2008 is being recalled. Only product with lot codes 17503 and 17133 are affected.

The recalled Shiloh Farms product was distributed to a total of 98 health food stores located in New York, Connecticut, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland and Arkansas.

90 Percent Chance Your Pet Turtle Has Salmonella

Posted by Salmonella Lawyer on January 24, 2008

We usually focus on food-borne illness here, but when pets poise a serious threat  to children due to salmonella we want to help get the word out. 

HealthDay Reporter Steven Reinberg today wrote about the Centers for Disease Control finding that 103 children got salmonella poisoning in the last half of 2007 from their pet turtles.  No deaths were reported, but dozens of children were treated at hospitals after being infected with salmonella.

The sale of small turtles under 4 inches has been banned in the United States since 1975.  Nevertheless, CDC estimates there are two million pet turtles in the country.  Reinberg reports that:

According to the report, cases were reported in all but 15 states, with most cases occurring in California, Illinois, Pennsylvania and Texas.

 Two of the infected children included a 13-year-old girl and a 15-year-old girl who became stricken after swimming in an unchlorinated in-ground pool owned by the family of the older girl. Two pet turtles, purchased at a South Carolina pet store and owned by the family of the older teen, were allowed to swim in the pool, the CDC reported.

(CDC's Julie) Harris said many people aren't aware of the risk of Salmonella infections from pet turtles. "Only 20 percent of these cases [in the report] said they were aware there was a connection between Salmonella infection and reptile exposure," she said.

 Up to 90 percent of turtles carry Salmonella, Harris said. "This is a very serious infection, especially for small children," she added.

 The infection is spread from contact with the turtles, but the contact doesn't have to be direct, Harris said. "We have one case where a baby was bathed in a sink that turtle waste was disposed in," she said.

Check out the entire HeathDay story here.

 

South Dakota State Epidemiologist Mum On Spread Of Salmonella Outbreak

Posted by Salmonella Lawyer on January 14, 2008

South Dakota public health officials apparently want to make a game out of guessing the other three states involved in a four-state salmonella outbreak.

Rapid City, the largest town in South Dakota's Black Hills, is said to be the center of the outbreak.

But Lon Kightlinger of the South Dakota Department of Health  declined to name the other states involved but noted that one is a South Dakota border state and the other two are “far flung.” Because of the molecular similarities of the cases in the four states, the states and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta are investigating for links.

We'd bet the "border state" is Montana and the "far flung" states are Pennsylvania and probably Texas.  Are there going to be cash awards?!!

Veteran South Dakota journalist Kevin Woster, writing in the Rapid City Journal today, reported that:

"So far health officials have confirmed 22 cases of a specific strain of the bacterial-borne intestinal disorder in the four states. All of South Dakota’s 11 cases – nine adults and two children - were in the Black Hills area. Six of the 11 victims were hospitalized, five at Rapid City Regional Hospital.

State health officials sent out a public notice in late December saying that salmonella cases were up slightly for the year and encouraged proper precautions to reduce the chance of infection. At that time, a Rapid City Regional Hospital official confirmed that five people had been hospitalized at the facility that month for Newport salmonella strain. Another patient was treated for salmonella at the emergency room and released, but it was not the Newport strain.

On Monday, hospital spokeswoman Deb Stillman-Rokusek also confirmed that three other cases of the Newport salmonella strain were detected in laboratory samples sent to regional from other medical facilities for analysis.

Additional confirmed cases of the Newport strain since the late-December announcement brought the total in South Dakota and three other states to 22 cases and prompted state health officials to issue another news release Monday.

Kightlinger, the state epidemiologist, said "it is a fairly potent strain.”

There is no indication of new cases of the Newport Salmonella strain since last month. Health officials have not identified a specific food, source or location suspected in the cluster of cases, nor is there a clear connection – beyond the molecular similarities - between the cases in South Dakota and the other states, Kightlinger said.

“None of the cases in the other states traveled to South Dakota during the incubation period. None at food processed in South Dakota, that we know of, or have a grandma in South Dakota that sent them Christmas cookies or goodies,” he said.

Salmonella outbreaks being investigated in Pennsylvania, Montana

Posted by Salmonella Lawyer on January 07, 2008
salmonellaThe Lancaster News reported that at least eleven people have been culture-confirmed with Salmonella infections since eating food from Mazzi, a restaurant whose owner also co-owns the Leola Village Inn & Suites.  According to  the story:
John Calabrese, who owns Mazzi and co-owns Leola Village Inn & Suites with his wife, Deborah Shirk, said about 50 people attended the Dec. 10 party at the restaurant, which is part of the Leola Village complex off Route 23.

When the workers got sick with nausea, fever, chills and other symptoms, "we couldn't figure out what was going on" and immediately notified the Health Department, Calabrese said. The restaurant also quarantined some areas "and sanitized everything," he said.

Stacy Kriedeman, a spokeswoman for the Department of Health, said Friday that there were 11 confirmed laboratory cases of salmonella involving people who ate at Mazzi on Dec. 10, 11 and 12, and 39 more people who reported feeling ill.
Both diners attending private parties at Mazzi and diners who attended the Leola Village Christmas gathering experienced Salmonella infection.  The health department continues its work to determine which foods can be associated with illness. 

Elsewhere, KULR TV reported that Yellowstone County, Montana, residents have become ill with a strain of Salmonella that has also been isolated from residents of Texas and Pennsylvania.  The investigation into what has caused this apparent outbreak is ongoing:
The information will then be sent to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention where experts will pinpoint the source of contamination. "The CDC will run it through an EPI program, and it's like a sorting program that goes through all the interviews and sorts through what item it could be," said Tamalee Taylor, communicable disease specialist at Yellowstone County Health Department.

Did PetSmart Cover Up Salmonella Outbreak?

Posted by Salmonella Lawyer on January 04, 2008

We're not members of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), but we do moniter the organization's acitivities and positions because they offer a view that is worth paying attention to. PETA's latest campaign is to get PetSmart, the naitonal pet food retailer from offering live pets for sale in its stores.

PETA's investigation that led to its current campaign included one aspect that caught our attention.  In December 2006, PetSmart sent its store managers a warming about a salmonella outbreak it was experiencing.   Cllick on the blue box for a readable version of the memo sent to PetSmart store managers.  The company never put out a news release to let the public or their customers know about this little problem.

So, PETA's campaign does get our attention.  Here's what they are up to:

"PETA, the world's largest animal rights organization and owner of 110 shares of PetSmart stock, has submitted a shareholder resolution to the Phoenix-based pet store chain calling on the company to resolve the inadequate and improper care of sick and injured animals in its stores. PETA's proposal was prompted by the dozens of complaints that the group receives every year from PetSmart customers and employees about animals' untreated illnesses and injuries, severe crowding, and deplorable conditions. PETA's own undercover investigation of two PetSmart stores--including one in Scottsdale--confirmed substandard conditions.

 

"PETA's investigator documented that more than 100 small animals--including hamsters, domestic rats, lizards, chinchillas, and birds--were deprived of needed veterinary care, including humane euthanasia. This comes despite assurances from PetSmart executive Bruce Richardson to PETA that "[n]o pet that has required a vet has been deprived of that service." PETA's investigator documented PetSmart store employees who had no veterinary training or animal husbandry experience diagnosing and "treating" sick and injured animals who were concealed in crowded back rooms. Over a three-day period, three different supervisors failed to take action to treat a dying hamster and instead logged notes about the animal's worsening condition until the hamster finally died.

"The pet-trade industry is notorious for cutting corners and putting animals at the bottom of the list, and PetSmart is no exception," says PETA Director Daphna Nachminovitch. "As word spreads about what really goes on behind closed doors in PetSmart's back rooms, chances increase that stockholders will pay the price in the form of diminished returns.

For more information, contact PETA 's Daphna Nachminovitch 757-622-7382.  Or go here.