Category Archives: E.coli O26

Bad Bug New Release

Posted on April 6, 2012 by | Leave a comment

FDA

This book is a great source of Microbiology Information and can be downloaded as a 264 page PDF.

The second edition of the Bad Bug Book3, published by the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, provides current information about the major known agents that cause foodborne illness. The information provided in this handbook is abbreviated and general in nature, and is intended for practical use. It is not intended to be a comprehensive scientific or clinical reference. Each chapter in this book is about a pathogen – a bacterium, virus, or parasite – or a natural toxin that can contaminate food and cause illness. The book contains scientific and technical information about the major pathogens that cause these kinds of illnesses. A separate “consumer box” in each chapter provides non-technical information, in everyday language. The boxes describe plainly what can make you sick and, more important, how to prevent it.

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Posted in Bacteria, Campylobacter, Clostridium botulinum, Clostridium perfringens, Cryptosporidium, E.coli, E.coli O104, E.coli O157, E.coli O26, EHEC, Enterobacteriaceae, Eurofins Laboratories, FDA, Food Illness, Food Poisoning, Food Safety, Food Testing, Foodborne Illness, Legionella, Listeria, Listeria monocytogenes, Microbiology, MRSA, Pathogen, Research, Salmonella, Shigella, Staphylococcus aureus, STEC

US- Jimmy Johns – Sprout Outbreak- Stands at 25 Ill – Ecoli O26

Posted on March 19, 2012 by | Leave a comment

Food Poisoning Journal

A total of 25 people have been sickened in the Jimmy Johns sprouts E. coli O26 outbreak.  They reside in 8 states (Michigan, Alabama, Ohio, Missouri, Kansas, Iowa, Arkansas, and Alabama).  Michigan residents have been hit hardest in the Jimmy Johns outbreak, with 9 illnesses total.  Among these 24 ill persons, illness onset dates ranged from December 25, 2011 to February 15, 2012. Ill persons range in age from 9 years to 53 years old, with a median age of 26 years. Eighty-eight percent of ill persons are female. Among the 24 ill persons, 6 (25%) were hospitalized. None have developed HUS, and no deaths have been reported. Illnesses that occurred after February 19, 2012, might not be reported yet due to the time it takes between when a person becomes ill and when the illness is reported.

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Posted in Bacteria, E.coli, E.coli O26, Eurofins Laboratories, Food Hygiene, Food Illness, Food Poisoning, Food Safety, Food Testing, Foodborne Illness, Microbiology, outbreak, Pathogen, Recall

Electrochemical Treatment of Wash Water – E.coli

Posted on March 14, 2012 by | Leave a comment

Food Quality

Electrochemical treatment of wash water in fresh produce processing shows real potential to combat E.coli contamination and cut in-plant water consumption, according to recent research.

 

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Posted in Bacteria, E.coli, E.coli O104, E.coli O157, E.coli O26, EHEC, Eurofins Laboratories, Food Hygiene, Food Safety, Food Technology, Food Testing, Microbiology, Pathogen

Laboratory Detection of ‘Toxic’ E.coli Increases

Posted on March 3, 2012 by | Leave a comment

Food Poisoning Bulletin

Enhanced laboratory detection of non-O157:H7 types of E. coli from stool samples of the sick is causing a surge in positive findings for toxic E. coli that is exponentially larger than the number of labs adopting the enhanced methods, a study by a Washington State Department of Health has found.

Washington State disease trackers looked at laboratories in Washington and examined the rate of non-O157 E. coli detection as more and more labs developed the tools to test for varied STECs. According to a summary of the research published this week by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the number of laboratories in Washington State that tested for varied STECs increased from 2 (4 percent) in 2005 to 19 (33 percent) in 2010.

Four serogroups accounted for more than 80 percent of non-O157 STEC case findings. They were E. coli O26, E. coli O103, E. coli O121 and E. coli O111.

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Posted in E.coli, E.coli O104, E.coli O157, E.coli O26, Eurofins Laboratories, Food Poisoning, Food Safety, Food Testing, Microbiology, Pathogen

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Pathogenic potential of Escherichia coli O26

Posted on February 29, 2012 by | Leave a comment

HPS

E. coli O26 and O157 have similar overall prevalences in cattle in Scotland, but in humans, Shiga toxin-producing E. coli O26 (STEC O26) infections are fewer and clinically less severe than E. coli O157 infections. To investigate this discrepancy, E. coli O26 isolates from cattle and humans in Scotland and continental Europe were genotyped. The genetic background of some strains from Scotland was closely related to that of strains causing severe infections in Europe. Nonmetric multidimensional scaling found an association between haemolytic uraemic syndrome (HUS) and multilocus sequence type 21 strains and confirmed the role of stx2 in severe human disease.

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Posted in E.coli, E.coli O26, EHEC, Eurofins Laboratories, Food Illness, Food Poisoning, Food Safety, Food Testing, Microbiology, Pathogen

Updated Numbers US/Canadian Sprout and Pita – E.coli O026/Salmonella

Posted on February 27, 2012 by | Leave a comment

CDC

A total of 14 individuals infected with the outbreak strain of E. coli O26 have been reported from 6 states. The two new cases have been reported from Michigan. Both new cases reported eating at Jimmy John’s restaurants and consuming sprouts in the 7 days preceding illness.

The Spec

Hamilton Public Health officials have discovered another 12 cases of salmonella illnesses after asking anyone who has eaten at Eat a Pita on Main Street East since Feb. 1 to call them.

Officials declared a salmonella outbreak connected to Eat a Pita after investigating four salmonella cases linked to the restaurant. Eat a Pita has been closed as a result of improper food handling. During a previously scheduled health inspection on Feb. 1, it was found that cooked chicken wasn’t being kept at a high enough temperature.

 

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Posted in E.coli, E.coli O26, Eurofins Laboratories, Food Illness, Food Inspections, Food Poisoning, Food Safety, Food Safety Alert, Food Testing, Microbiology, outbreak, Pathogen, Recall, Salmonella

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CDC – Advice Raw Sprouts

Posted on February 24, 2012 by | Leave a comment

Food Poisoning Bulletin

The most recent outbreak of food borne illness linked to raw sprouts is a restaurant-based outbreak of E. coli O26 associated with consumption of raw clover sprouts served on sandwiches at certain Jimmy John’s locations in Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Arkansas and Wisconsin.

Like other restaurant chains and some large food retailers, Jimmy John’s has now removed sprouts from its menu offerings because of the inherent risk of pathogen contamination in this area of fresh produce.

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Posted in E.coli, E.coli O26, EHEC, Eurofins Laboratories, FDA, Food Inspections, Food Poisoning, Food Safety, Food Technology, Food Testing, Microbiology

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Mobile Phone Detection of E.coli?

Posted on February 24, 2012 by | 1 comment

Bites

Researchers from the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science have developed a new cell phone–based fluorescent imaging and sensing platform that can detect the presence of the bacterium Escherichia coli in food and water. The engineers combined antibody functionalized glass capillaries with quantum dots (semiconductors often used for medical imaging) as signal reporters to specifically detect E. coli particles in liquid samples using a lightweight, compact attachment to an existing cell-phone camera.

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Posted in E.coli, E.coli O104, E.coli O157, E.coli O26, Eurofins Laboratories, Food Hygiene, Food Inspections, Food Safety, Food Technology, Food Testing, Microbiology, Pathogen, STEC

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More E. coli Research

Posted on February 17, 2012 by | Leave a comment

Food Safety News

In the wake of the devastating European E. coli outbreak linked to sprouts that killed at least 50 people and sickened more than 4,000, experts from the European Union and the United States are calling for new research on how to combat toxic strains of E. coli.
 
In November of 2011, 4 months after the outbreak ended, an international group of public health officials, medical professionals, epidemiologists, microbiologists and environmental scientists met to determine what lessons can be drawn from this epidemic. The results of this summit were released Thursday in Eurosurveillance. 
 
The group determined that more needs to be learned about shiga toxin-producing E. colis (STECs) such as E. coli O104:H4, the strain responsible for the European outbreak.

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Posted in E.coli, E.coli O104, E.coli O157, E.coli O26, Eurofins Laboratories, Food Illness, Food Poisoning, Food Safety, Food Testing, Microbiology, outbreak, Pathogen

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US – Sprouting Seeds Again – E.coli O26

Posted on February 16, 2012 by | Leave a comment

Food Poisoning Bulletin

The Center for Disease Control (CDC) has reported a multi-state outbreak of shiga-toxin producing E. coli 026 (STEC) infections linked to raw clover sprouts at Jimmy John’s restaurants.

So far, 12 people have been infected with the outbreak strain of STEC 026. The case distribution is:

  • Iowa (5)
  • Missouri (3)Kansas (2)
  • Arkansas (1)
  • Wisconsin (1)

Two people have been hospitalized, but no deaths have occurred as of February 15, 2012.

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Posted in E.coli, E.coli O26, Eurofins Laboratories, Food Illness, Food Poisoning, Food Safety, Food Safety Alert, Food Testing, Microbiology, outbreak, Pathogen, Recall, Sprouting Seeds