Category Archives: Uncategorized

The Guardian

There’s a war going on for your wet hands, and it’s heating up. Companies such as Dyson, makers of the Airblade, have long complained about the paper towel industry sponsoring research into the hygiene implications of different hand-drying methods. So it was this week, when a paper in the Journal of Applied Microbiology concluded that Airblades spread 60 times more germs than standard air dryers, and 1,300 times more than standard paper towels. This was “scaremongering”, a company spokeswoman suggested, “conducted under artificial conditions”.

The conditions were set up by researchers at the University of Westminster, who took an innocuous virus, MS2, put it on their wet hands, then created a target 40cm away. They then applied the three drying methods – blades, plain air, paper towel – and counted the viral load that leapt across. Unsurprisingly, given that it doesn’t involve air whooshing out, the paper towel load levels were so small as to be barely noticeable. In a second test – the long-jump competition of this disease decathlon – the Airblade shot the virus as far as 3m away, while standard air could only manage 75cm, and hand towels a frankly shoddy 25cm.

Huffington Post 

You never know when you walk into a public restroom what you will be using to dry your hands. The options usually are standard or high speed air dryers or paper towels. The battle about which method is more hygienic has heated up again with a recent study showing that high speed dryers spread a virus 60 times more than standard air dryers and 1,300 times more than paper towels.

VN Express

Scores of young children from a nursery school in the southern province of Vinh Long were hospitalized with food poisoning after having lunch at school on Wednesday.

The children started vomiting and experienced stomachaches and diarrhea. The school called parents to pick their children up but the situation quickly worsened with dozens of them falling sick.

A public hospital in the area had to arrange extra beds to receive 84 children between three and five years old, nearly a third of the school’s 273 students.

Doctors at the hospital said nine serious cases were put on drips. More than half of the children had been discharged by Thursday afternoon, and the rest are stable.

Authorities in Vinh Long have taken food samples and are investigating the cause of the problem.

Eurekalert

CDC Photo

A team at Griffith’s Institute for Glycomics identified a unique sensory structure that is able to bind host-specific sugar and is present on particularly virulent strains of Campylobacter jejuni.

In their paper A direct-sensing galactose chemoreceptor recently evolved in invasive strains of Campylobacter jejuni published in Nature Communications this week, the team explain that the ability to cause disease depends on the ability of bacterial cells to move towards their target host cells.

This movement is determined by specialised structures on the bacterial cells called sensory receptors that sense chemicals in their environment.

It is the first known finding of a bacterial sensor that can bind sugar directly.

The News

A total of seven countries in the European Union have imported eggs infected with the Salmonella bacteria from Poland.

Dutch authorities have reported the infected eggs to the European Commission, which oversees the quality of food and feed.

The threat is considered to be serious, the Polish PAP news agency has said.

According to Belgium’s Federal Agency for the Safety of the Food Chain, “several shipments of Polish eggs contaminated with Salmonella” have been sent to seven EU countries, including hundreds of restaurants in Belgium, from “various Dutch suppliers”.

In a statement published on Thursday, the agency said that for the time being, “retail businesses have not been affected”.

It added that the infected eggs bear the code “3PL30221 ***” (*** can match any digit). (rg)

FSANZ 

Cloud 9 Farm has recalled White Velvet Cheese from Cloud 9 Farm in VIC due to microbial (E.coli) contamination. Food products contaminated with E.coli may cause illness if consumed. Any consumers concerned about their health should seek medical advice. The product can be returned to the place of purchase for a full refund.

CDC 

To the Editor: Norovirus is the world’s leading cause of nonbacterial acute gastroenteritis (1). Since their emergence, GII.P17-GII.17 noroviruses have replaced the GII.4 Sydney 2012 variant as the dominating norovirus genotype in parts of Asia (2), although they have been detected only sporadically, in a limited number, on other continents (3).

The major reservoir(s) of GII.17 that contribute to transmission are unknown, but it has been suggested that oysters and other bivalve shellfish are common vehicles for transmission of the emerging GII.17 viruses (2). In this study, we demonstrate the link between oysters and human disease by presenting molecular evidence of norovirus GII.P17-GII.17 in Denmark causing acute gastroenteritis, characterized by the sudden onset of vomiting with or without diarrhea after consumption of oysters. We further document molecular evidence providing linkage between norovirus detected in fecal samples from patients and food samples from imported oysters.

CDC 

Eggs are one of nature’s most nutritious and economical foods, but you must take special care when handling and preparing fresh eggs and egg products to avoid foodborne illness, sometimes called “food poisoning.”

The inside of eggs that appear normal can contain a germ called Salmonella that can make you sick, especially if eggs are eaten raw or lightly cooked. But eggs are safe when cooked and handled properly.

CDC 

When a foodborne disease outbreak is detected, public health and regulatory officials work quickly to collect as much information as possible to find out what is causing it, so they can take action to prevent more people from getting sick. During an investigation, health officials collect three types of data: epidemiologic, traceback, and food and environmental testing. This new infographic shows the process.

CFIA

Ottawa, October 21, 2016 – Rosa Foods Inc. is recalling Soylent brand Food Bar from the marketplace due to reported illnesses. Consumers should not consume the recalled products described below.

The following products have been sold through the Internet at www.soylent.com.