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Subscribe to RSSCases have popped up in six states, including Georgia, Florida and California. So far, three people have been hospitalized and one little girl has died. NBC's Gabe Gutierrez reports.
Update, June 22: One additional victim has been confirmed in an outbreak of E. coli O145 infections that puzzled state and federal health officials, bringing the total illnesses to 15 identified in six states. No source of the outbreak has been identified, the Centers for Disease Control and infection said Friday. Because the last illness was detected six weeks ago, the outbreak may be over, but officials said they'll continue to search for sources of the infections.
Federal health officials are investigating a mysterious outbreak of E. coli infections that has sickened at least 14 people in six states, including a 21-month-old Louisiana girl who died.
No source has been identified for the strain of E. coli O145 genetically linked to illnesses in states as far-flung as Florida and California, officials with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed Friday. People became ill between April 15 and May 12.
Most of the infections have been reported in Georgia, with five cases, and Louisiana, with four cases, including the death of the child identified as Maelan Elizabeth Graffagnini of New Orleans.
Two infections with the outbreak strain have been reported in Alabama and one each has been reported in California, Florida and Tennessee. The Florida victim is a 22-year-old woman from Leon County, state health officials said.
“This ongoing multi-state investigation has not yet identified a source of those infections,” a CDC statement released Friday said. “The investigation is looking at both food and non-food exposures.”
Health officials in several states are interviewing ill people to determine how they may have been exposed to the E. coli strain, one of several Shiga Toxin-producing E. coli — or STEC — varieties.
The most common STEC is E. coli O157:H7, which is the potentially deadly strain commonly linked to ground beef. The strain of E. coli O145 is less common, but can be just as harmful.
This week, the U.S. Department of Agriculture began testing certain cuts of commercially produced beef for E. coli O145 and five other STEC strains that have the potential to cause serious illness and death.
People typically become ill between two and eight days after being infected. Most people develop diarrhea, including watery and bloody diarrhea, and abdominal cramps. Most people get better in a week, but some people — including children, the elderly and those with compromised immune systems — can become seriously ill, developing a condition known as hemolytic uremic syndrome, which can cause kidney failure and death.
While the specific cause of the outbreak remains unknown, health officials recommend several general steps to prevent transmission of illness:
- Wash your hands after using the bathroom, changing diapers and before eating or preparing food. Wash up also after contact with animals or their environments, including petting zoos, farms, fairs and home backyards.
- Prevent cross contamination of food by washing hands, counters, cutting boards and utensils after they touch raw meat.
- Cook meat thoroughly. Ground beef and meat that has been tenderized should be cooked to at least 160 degrees F. Use a meat thermometer to check doneness.
- Avoid raw milk, unpasteurized dairy products and unpasteurized juices such as fresh apple cider.
- Avoid swallowing water when swimming or playing in lakes, ponds, streams, swimming pools and kiddie pools.
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You know what would stop these e. coli outbreaks? Less regulation. If enough people die, nobody will buy vegetables at all and the market will correct itself. ROMNEY 2012! BP WAS JUST GIVING BACK TO THE COMMUNITY!
Sweetie, it said this type of E Coli was found in beef products, not vegetables. Why don't you leave politics to folks who read and you go back to your "vegetables".
Deenie, it was a throw away line and it said, "commonly linked to ground beef".
Mern- I guess I was trying to redirect from politics and focus on what's happening - people got really sick and a child died - the 2012 election shouldn't be the first comment, I'm glad the other posters took the lead.
With these kind of virulent issues in connection with food, it's starting to seem as if frozen dinners are safer than home-cooked meals.
Another "Sign of the Times"?
A friend & I were in Las Vegas the first part of February, where she contracted E Coli confirmed when I took her to the hospital. Two days before we ate at a seafood buffet, & also Jonny Rockets @ the Flamingo. We drove home to Washington state where with both were sick all the way home. Since being back at our homes neither of us have been the same since Las Vegas.
I had e-coli last month. I still have no idea where I contacted it from, but it was scary. I had the milder strain and with two different types of antibiotics, it did clear up. I don't eat beef or rarely meat at all, but I do eat a lot of fruits and veggies..
I did travel from the West coast to the East coast, so not sure if I picked it up in my travels or if I had it prior to my trip, but with no signs yet. Glad I went to a walk in clinic and got tested, otherwise, I may have waited until I got back home and then, it might of been a lot worse.
Washing my veggies and fruits a lot more now and just trying to be cautious of where I do eat and where!
Washing fruits and vegetables is just as safe as your water is safe! Today, that means nothing unless you have a well and have no runoff from any creek or industrial or manufacturing etc.
I read some where about a warning about the cloth grocery bags and e-coli, it said that they need to be washed. If you can get it in the cloth grocery bag, it must be on many things in the grocery store that have been cross contimated.
Wait. Let me get this straight: Around 30k people die per year from car accidents, and it's no big deal. Yet, 14 people get sick, one dies, and the world comes to a grinding halt?!
Let me see here... ONE person dies and it gets this level of intense coverage in the media?! For ONE death?!
You expect people to die from car accidents, war, and crime. You do not expect people to get sick or die from a bacteria after eating a steak or something. It is not about numbers it i is about perceived safety. We perceive our food to be safe to eat. When evidence comes out that American food is not as safe as the Government claims it is it gets made into a big deal.
I drive coast to coast Usa for last eight years, and I see at rest areas, that in man washrooms, 90% washroom users,do not wash hand at all… Must be same percentage in households…
I drive coast to coast Usa for last eight years, and I see at rest areas, that in man washrooms, 90% washroom users,do not wash hand at all… Must be same percentage in households…
Dead animals are not a safe form of food. I would not eat a dead animal that I found on the side of the road, and I do not trust the meat being sold for our consumption. I buy organic fruits and vegatables, and I am thinking of growing my own food. I have a hard time with the fact that we can travel to the moon, spend billions on weapons, and still have not figured out to keep our food safe! My heart goes out to the family that lost their baby daughter, and to all the others that have lost loved ones to food illnesses. We can still travel to the moon and back, and we have a free country, but we will not be around to enjoy it if we can't eat safely.......GOD BLESS AMERICA!!!!!!!!!
When my son was four, he contracted E-coli 0157:H7 and progressed into full HUS. It is a miracle he lived through this horrific illness, he was dead on paper... That was 19 years ago. Not only did he contract this E-coli strain, but so did my daughter, her cousins and some friends -- all of whom had eaten hot dogs while the adults were outside working on the house. Hot dogs. I still can't stand them. God bless the families who have lost their children to this illness, it is without question one of the most horrible medical afflictions. The public continues not to hear of all the outbreaks, a nurse will tell you this is so. If you or your child has symptoms, be damn sure no antibiotics are administered until a culture is done! Cleanliness needs to be of the order of our great-grandmothers, certainly. In our experience, I wish to restate, the common link was hot dogs. Be very educated!
Anyone who has resided overseas is well aware of the multitude of diseases that flourish because most nations do not have the mandatory shots that our nation requires; along with health regulations...ALL when done according to law--lessen our own perile to the same.
But given the fact that millions enter the USA each year whether students, foreigners, overstays from the former; and just plain illegals from around the world--let alone those imported such as the l00,000 to Wisconsin from Somalia, on and on.
We have l million as a quota to maintain our own population: but our laws are ignored.
Then we have the WTO aka NAFTA etc.: imports..Communist China has been poisoning us everysince Clintonista gave them the most favored trade status: now we have no leverage over that nation of billions...they own us...
OPEN BORDERS USA...gangs cross daily, and I might include the fact that they can do so much easier than any of us can go on vacation without have to do be pin cushions prior to our departure ...
Double standards are killing us: when we allow illegals unchecked for their diseases to work in our public places like restaurants, fast foods, school cafeterias, hotels/motels, and hospitals: just watch a Spanish speaking person walk in a room of a patient--and do a 360...degree turn...with a cheshire grin.
Never ask why we have our own DEAD just thank our gutless coward TRAITORS WITHIN
those who send our sons, daughers, brothers, sisters, fathers, mothers, uncles, aunts, grandmothers, grandfathers as US Military each generation...sent onto foreign soil to be systematically sacrificed while their lives are replaced as welcomed with all the fruits of our family, neighbors, country men and women...(ex) Dream Act...what a disgusting EVIL example of debochery...against our loved ones, and we will all pay the price of EVIL vs One Nation Under GOD...