Victim Profile: The Loss of John Powers
John Powers was eighty-seven years old when he consumed milk contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes (Listeria), a bacterium that causes foodborne illness, several times over the 2007 Thanksgiving holiday. The husband, father, and grandfather lost his battle with the pathogen on January 3, 2008. He had been hospitalized for over a month.
A Fateful Purchase
At the start of Thanksgiving week in 2007, John and his wife, Regina, were overjoyed, looking forward to spending time with their children and grandchildren. Their son, Johnny, and his family, who live in California, usually came to visit at Christmas; but in 2007, they were coming to Thanksgiving instead. John and Regina loaded up on a wide variety of food items, making sure that their pantry was completely stocked for the holidays.
Johnny's ritual during the holidays, whether Thanksgiving or Christmas, was to pick up some fresh, homemade eggnog at Shady Oaks Farm in Medway, Mass. Not wanting to break with tradition, on Tuesday, November 20, he stopped by the farm to purchase the eggnog. In a cruel twist of fate, Johnny decided to buy some chocolate and coffee milk instead. His father consumed the milk on multiple occasions over the course of the next several days.
John's Illness
Although he had a number of comorbidities, John was fully independent, living at home, and still sharp as a tack at 87 years old. As late as the day before Thanksgiving 2007, his daughter Nancy recalls witnessing her nieces and nephews doubled over in laughter from the stories and jokes their granddad loved to tell. Indeed, family and friends recall John as a man in excellent condition, sharp, strong, and vibrant.
At noon on Friday, November 23, Regina was shocked to find John barely responsive. He had developed severe gastrointestinal symptoms, including nausea, vomiting, weakness, and fever. The family immediately called an ambulance, which rushed John to the Milford Regional Medical Center Emergency Room.
Upon arrival at the emergency room, the treating physician noted that John's vital signs were normal, but that he was mildly confused. The doctor ordered a stool test to determine the source of John's illness, and immediately started him on intravenous fluids to combat the already severe dehydration.
John's elevated white blood cell count indicated that he was suffering from an infection. He was also suffering from severe kidney disease--stage IV kidney failure, in fact--and the blood flow to his heart was restricted, consistent with heart failure. John continued to deteriorate overnight, and blood tests done at 6 a.m. on November 24 showed a further decline in kidney function. John's nurse noted that he continued to have loose, sometimes bloody, stools.
Over the course of the next two days, John's condition continued to slowly deteriorate. A cardiology consultation revealed that his lungs were overloaded, making breathing difficult. And by mid-afternoon on November 25, John had become shaky and had begun to stutter.
Finally, on November 26, doctors discovered the cause of John's rapid decline: a blood sample had tested positive for Listeria monocytogenes. John was immediately seen by an infectious disease specialist, whose impression was that John had Listeria-induced gastroenteritis with bacteremia (bacteria in the blood).
Regina vividly recalls learning of the diagnosis and the frenzy of events that followed: "After hearing the diagnosis, Johnny--my son--suggested that I take what was left of the coffee milk that John had consumed to the Medway Board of Health. My daughter and I did this; they in turn forwarded it to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health to be tested."
"We were informed by watching the 6 p.m. news that two men had died from drinking tainted milk from Whittier Farms and another was seriously ill. My daughter called Robert Briggs from Shady Oaks Farm to ask if he purchased milk from Whittier Farms and he confirmed our worst fears."
The Investigation
In 2007, Whittier Farms had operated a milk product pasteurizing, bottling, and processing facility for nearly 50 years. Raw milk was transported by tanker truck to the Whittier Farms processing facility from the company's own farm of nearly 300 cows and from another, independent farm located 25 miles away.
Whittier Farms produced various milk and non-milk beverage products in glass and plastic bottles, including several varieties of flavored milk. Retail outlets were located at the dairy and the farm; however, the bulk of the dairy's milk products was sold through home delivery and at various retail establishments in Massachusetts, including Shady Oaks Farm in Medway.
The Massachusetts Department of Public Health identified five people who had consumed milk produced by Whittier Farms during the six weeks before becoming ill with listeriosis with matching pulsed field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) patterns, or "DNA fingerprints," indicating milk produced by Whittier Farms was the source of their Listeria infections.
All five patients were hospitalized. Three were male, ages 75 to 87, and two were pregnant females, ages 31 and 34. All three men, including John Powers, died from sepsis attributed to Listeria; the 31-year-old woman gave birth to a healthy but premature infant at 36 weeks gestation, and the 34-year-old woman experienced a stillbirth at 37 weeks gestation.
On December 17, evidence of Listeria growth was reported from a coffee-flavored milk sample retrieved from John and Regina Powers' home, prompting the Massachusetts Food Protection Program (MFPP) to inspect Whittier Farms.
Eleven samples of unopened, flavored and unflavored milk products were collected for testing on December 18. The same unique PFGE pattern was identified within Whittier Farms milk products, four PFGE-confirmed cases associated with the outbreak, and the milk from the Powers' fridge.
A Fateful Purchase
At the start of Thanksgiving week in 2007, John and his wife, Regina, were overjoyed, looking forward to spending time with their children and grandchildren. Their son, Johnny, and his family, who live in California, usually came to visit at Christmas; but in 2007, they were coming to Thanksgiving instead. John and Regina loaded up on a wide variety of food items, making sure that their pantry was completely stocked for the holidays.
Johnny's ritual during the holidays, whether Thanksgiving or Christmas, was to pick up some fresh, homemade eggnog at Shady Oaks Farm in Medway, Mass. Not wanting to break with tradition, on Tuesday, November 20, he stopped by the farm to purchase the eggnog. In a cruel twist of fate, Johnny decided to buy some chocolate and coffee milk instead. His father consumed the milk on multiple occasions over the course of the next several days.
John's Illness
Although he had a number of comorbidities, John was fully independent, living at home, and still sharp as a tack at 87 years old. As late as the day before Thanksgiving 2007, his daughter Nancy recalls witnessing her nieces and nephews doubled over in laughter from the stories and jokes their granddad loved to tell. Indeed, family and friends recall John as a man in excellent condition, sharp, strong, and vibrant.
At noon on Friday, November 23, Regina was shocked to find John barely responsive. He had developed severe gastrointestinal symptoms, including nausea, vomiting, weakness, and fever. The family immediately called an ambulance, which rushed John to the Milford Regional Medical Center Emergency Room.
Upon arrival at the emergency room, the treating physician noted that John's vital signs were normal, but that he was mildly confused. The doctor ordered a stool test to determine the source of John's illness, and immediately started him on intravenous fluids to combat the already severe dehydration.
John's elevated white blood cell count indicated that he was suffering from an infection. He was also suffering from severe kidney disease--stage IV kidney failure, in fact--and the blood flow to his heart was restricted, consistent with heart failure. John continued to deteriorate overnight, and blood tests done at 6 a.m. on November 24 showed a further decline in kidney function. John's nurse noted that he continued to have loose, sometimes bloody, stools.
Over the course of the next two days, John's condition continued to slowly deteriorate. A cardiology consultation revealed that his lungs were overloaded, making breathing difficult. And by mid-afternoon on November 25, John had become shaky and had begun to stutter.
Finally, on November 26, doctors discovered the cause of John's rapid decline: a blood sample had tested positive for Listeria monocytogenes. John was immediately seen by an infectious disease specialist, whose impression was that John had Listeria-induced gastroenteritis with bacteremia (bacteria in the blood).
Regina vividly recalls learning of the diagnosis and the frenzy of events that followed: "After hearing the diagnosis, Johnny--my son--suggested that I take what was left of the coffee milk that John had consumed to the Medway Board of Health. My daughter and I did this; they in turn forwarded it to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health to be tested."
"We were informed by watching the 6 p.m. news that two men had died from drinking tainted milk from Whittier Farms and another was seriously ill. My daughter called Robert Briggs from Shady Oaks Farm to ask if he purchased milk from Whittier Farms and he confirmed our worst fears."
The Investigation
In 2007, Whittier Farms had operated a milk product pasteurizing, bottling, and processing facility for nearly 50 years. Raw milk was transported by tanker truck to the Whittier Farms processing facility from the company's own farm of nearly 300 cows and from another, independent farm located 25 miles away.
Whittier Farms produced various milk and non-milk beverage products in glass and plastic bottles, including several varieties of flavored milk. Retail outlets were located at the dairy and the farm; however, the bulk of the dairy's milk products was sold through home delivery and at various retail establishments in Massachusetts, including Shady Oaks Farm in Medway.
The Massachusetts Department of Public Health identified five people who had consumed milk produced by Whittier Farms during the six weeks before becoming ill with listeriosis with matching pulsed field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) patterns, or "DNA fingerprints," indicating milk produced by Whittier Farms was the source of their Listeria infections.
All five patients were hospitalized. Three were male, ages 75 to 87, and two were pregnant females, ages 31 and 34. All three men, including John Powers, died from sepsis attributed to Listeria; the 31-year-old woman gave birth to a healthy but premature infant at 36 weeks gestation, and the 34-year-old woman experienced a stillbirth at 37 weeks gestation.
On December 17, evidence of Listeria growth was reported from a coffee-flavored milk sample retrieved from John and Regina Powers' home, prompting the Massachusetts Food Protection Program (MFPP) to inspect Whittier Farms.
Eleven samples of unopened, flavored and unflavored milk products were collected for testing on December 18. The same unique PFGE pattern was identified within Whittier Farms milk products, four PFGE-confirmed cases associated with the outbreak, and the milk from the Powers' fridge.
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