Food Poison Journal - Food poisoning outbreaks and litigation: surveillance and analysis

USA Today reports that the first rule of public health is one most of us learn in kindergarten: Don't eat poop.

But that's what the people were eating who were struck down with E. coli in the late summer outbreak tied to bagged spinach, California health officials now say.

There was deadly E. coli O157:H7 in water samples taken on the Salinas Valley ranch where the spinach was grown, in wild pigs that rampaged through the fields, in cattle and calves that grazed nearby, and on cow manure in adjacent pastures, says Kevin Reilly, deputy director of prevention services for the California Department of Health Services.

"It's not unusual or unexpected that we'd find O157:H7 in the environment where those species exist," Reilly says. Three people died and more than 200 others were sickened in the outbreak that spread to 26 states.

Canada.com reports that a salmonella outbreak potentially linked to produce has sickened at least 172 people in 18 states, health officials said Monday.

Health officials think the bacteria may have spread through some form of produce; the list of suspects includes lettuce and tomatoes. But the illnesses have not been tied to any specific product, chain, restaurants or supermarkets.

No one has died in the outbreak, which stems from a common form of salmonella bacteria. Eleven people have been hospitalized, health officials said.

Science Daily reports that eavesdropping can sometimes be a good thing. Researchers are learning how to listen to a wide range of bacterial conversations -- the chemical signals bacteria use to communicate with each other -- in an effort to design new compounds to thwart deadly infections, particularly those involved in the growing problem of antibiotic resistance, according to an article scheduled for the Oct. 23 issue of Chemical & Engineering News, ACS' weekly newsmagazine.

C&EN associate editor Sarah Everts shows that researchers have made significant strides in decoding bacterial conversations, also known as quorum sensing, a phenomenon first discovered in the 1970s by a group of biologists who were exploring bioluminescent bacteria found in squid.

An article by NBC Miami reminds consumers that when women are pregnant, their risk of developing foodborne illness increases and even a mild case of food poisoning can have serious consequences. Protect yourself and your unborn infant from foodborne illness by practicing good food safety habits.

Pregnant women should take special precautions when shopping for, handling, preparing and storing food since you are more vulnerable to foodborne illness. Do not eat meats, poultry, seafood and eggs that are raw or undercooked. Also, unpasteurized dairy products like raw milk and some imported cheeses can pose safety threats to pregnant women.

Doctors call it "acute gastroenteritis." To many other people, it's "stomach flu" (though real influenza is a respiratory, not digestive, illness). Whatever you call it, a sudden illness involving diarrhea, vomiting or both is a miserable thing. And occasionally — as demonstrated by the recent deaths linked to E. coli-tainted spinach — it can be a dangerous thing.

But, as USA Today printed in an article today, in the words of Chesapeake, Va., gastroenterologist Patricia Raymond: "The GI (gastrointestinal) tract has a limited palette of expression. You vomit, you cramp, you have diarrhea."

So how do you tell a really bad bug from one that is merely unpleasant? How do you tell one that came from food from one you picked up from a doorknob or a baby's diaper? In short, when should you worry?

Usually, doctors say, both worry and detective work are unnecessary: Whether the culprit is viral or bacterial, food-borne or not, you'll most likely recover in a couple of days and won't need medical attention. If you suspect the Thanksgiving stuffing, it's nice to let other family members know. And you should change your cooking habits (or your caterer). But there's rarely a need to send the whole clan in for a battery of tests and treatments.