A Cryptosporidium outbreak in Caldwell County, North Carolina has sickened an unnamed number of residents, according to the Caldwell County Health Department. No patient age range or illness onset dates were given in the press release, and there is no word on whether or not anyone has been hospitalized. Officials are also not saying if contaminated food or drink, contaminated recreational water, or contact with animals caused these illnesses.
They visited Bordeaux, France, last month for the Rugby World Cup and reported eating home-canned sardines in the same bar and restaurant
The University of Minnesota Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP) reports that 15 cases of botulism poisoning resulted, including one death.
The deadly outbreak was confirmed by the open-access platform known as Eurosurveillance.
CIDRAP’s summary of the botulism outbreak follows:
The report presented the clinical case descriptions of eight patients seen at the Bordeaux University Hospital, where the first patient treated in the outbreak was admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) on Sept. 6.
Home-canned sardines implicated
All three initial patients seen at the hospital reported visiting France for the rugby tournament. On Sept. 10, French investigators questioned the three, who all reported eating home-canned sardines in the same bar and restaurant in Bordeaux.
On Sept. 11 and Sept. 12, the hospital saw five more patients, all international visitors, for symptoms of botulism poisoning, including descending paralysis and extensive gastrointestinal illness.
The patients came from Canada, France, Ireland, and the United States. Two patients were men, six were women, and only one was younger than 50. The average time between the consumption of sardines and the first signs of illness was 13 hours.
“Six of eight cases required invasive mechanical ventilation because of respiratory muscle paralysis,” the CIDRAP authors said. The median delay between the onset of symptoms and intubation was 25 hours.
An E. Coli outbreak at an Illinois high school is part of a multi-state outbreak being investigated by federal officials.
According to school district officials, the outbreak at Huntley High School in suburban Chicago was identified on Sept. 17. Nine high school students were confirmed as outbreak patients, and several more were suspected to be part of the outbreak.
Although federal officials have not posted any information about the outbreak, a spokesperson for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed to Food Safety News that the agency is involved in the investigation.
Recalled Gills Onions-brand diced yellow onions, diced onions & celery, diced mirepoix, and diced red onions with use-by dates in August 2023.
FDA’s investigation is ongoing. Updates to this advisory will be provided as they become available.
Illness usually occurs within 12 to 72 hours after eating contaminated food and usually lasts four to seven days. Symptoms include diarrhea, fever, and abdominal cramps. Children younger than five, the elderly, and people with weakened immune systems are more likely to have severe infections.
Ongoing
October 24, 2023
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in collaboration with state and local partners, are investigating an outbreak of Salmonella Thompson infections linked to fresh diced onions from Gills Onions of Oxnard, California.
Based on epidemiological data collected by CDC, 14 of 19 cases with information available reported exposure to fresh diced onions before becoming ill. Additionally, based on traceback data collected by FDA, FDA determined that onions processed at Gills Onions were available at points of service where people ate prior to becoming ill.
In response to this investigation, Gills Onions has voluntarily recalled diced yellow onion, diced onions & celery, diced mirepoix, and diced red onions.
The investigation is ongoing to determine the source of contamination and whether additional products are linked to illnesses. FDA will update this advisory should additional consumer safety information become available.
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Researchers have provided insight into a large outbreak in Japan linked to milk served in schools.
The E. coli outbreak in June 2021 involved more than 1,800 cases from 25 schools, but no deaths were recorded.
The O antigens of most E. coli isolates were untypable (OUT). Although major foodborne toxins and pathogens were not detected, a specific E. coli strain, serotype OUT (OgGp9): H18, was isolated from milk samples related to the outbreak and tested patients. Strains from milk and patient stool samples were identified as the exact clone.
Milk cartons were part of school lunches in June 2021 in Toyama City, Japan. According to the study published in the journal Epidemiology and Infection, Pasteurized milk was produced by the T milk factory.
Yesterday in Eurosurveillance, investigators report on an outbreak of 15 cases of botulism poisoning, including 1 death, last month during the Rugby World Cup held in Bordeaux, France.
The authors present the clinical case descriptions of eight patient seen at the Bordeaux University Hospital, where the first patient treated in the outbreak was admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) on September 6. That patient required mechanical ventilation and experienced a number of severe symptoms, including eye drooping, impaired swallowing, and oculomotor palsy—in which the affected eye does not track correctly.
“Because of the neurological symptoms, the patient was initially treated for Guillain–Barré syndrome, but botulism was also suspected,” the authors staid. Over the next 4 days, two more patients arrived at the hospital with similar neuro-ophthalmic symptoms and required ICU care.
Human health surveillance and its relationship to foodborne illness is essential for informing
the strategic direction that New Zealand Food Safety (NZFS) takes and regulatory measures
it puts in place to minimise foodborne illness in New Zealand and overseas consumers. The
annual ESR foodborne disease reports are critical, allowing NZFS to monitor trends in
foodborne illness in New Zealand by describing in a consistent manner evidence from case
notifications, case enquiries, outbreak investigations, and other epidemiological studies of
human enteric disease.
This report is the latest in a series providing a consistent source of data annually to monitor
trends in foodborne illness in New Zealand. The series can be found here.
When reading these reports, it is necessary to bear in mind that notified cases of illness
represent only a subset of all the cases that occur in New Zealand each year.
• Many sick individuals do not visit a GP or otherwise come to the attention of the
health system.
• Multiple factors (e.g., change in sensitivity of testing methods, proportion of human
faecal specimens being tested) affect the notification rates on top of any underlying
changes to disease incidence happening in New Zealand. Some cases notified in
New Zealand are due to exposure to a pathogen or toxin while they were overseas.
Most cases of foodborne diseases in New Zealand are sporadic, which makes attribution to a
source or event difficult. In contrast, outbreaks offer a better opportunity to identify the source
and most of the 271 outbreaks (253 cases) of potential foodborne disease in 2022 were
associated with commercial food operators and only five outbreaks in 2022 were associated
with food prepared in consumer’s homes. Despite robust investigation, some outbreaks
reported as “foodborne with an unidentified food source” could also be attributed to other
routes of transmission, such as water, animal contact, or person to person contact.
Listeriosis is perhaps the only disease fully attributable to consumption of contaminated food.
Campylobacteriosis, yersiniosis, infection by shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC), and
salmonellosis remain the predominant notified foodborne illnesses. Notification rates per
100,000 population are generally stable, being highest for very young children (0 to 4 years
age group) and for elderly people (70+ years)
More information has come to light about a deadly outbreak of Salmonella in Spain in 2022.
The outbreak occurred at the Geriàtric Aragó care home in Barcelona. According to officials, it started in July 2022 and affected 39 residents, of which 15 were hospitalized and eight died.
Additional information was revealed in documents from the Parliament of Catalonia in response to a question on action taken by the Departament de Drets Socials (Department of Social Rights).
An investigation is ongoing by the Fiscalía Provincial de Barcelona, the local prosecutor’s office.
In March 2022, an inspection was carried out to collect information concerning a complaint submitted in February by a resident’s family. No irregularities were detected from the documentation and observations made during the visit. Another check was undertaken in May due to a separate complaint, but no related non-compliances were found.
FoodWorld 