Days ago, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released its most recent yearly summary of foodborne illness outbreaks in the United States. The summary covered the year 2013, and it found that 818 foodborne outbreaks were reported in the country during that year — a number consistent
Continue Reading The Prevalence of Foodborne Illness
Groups Want Increased Funding to Support CDC’s PulseNet Database
As Congress works to prepare its appropriations bills for fiscal year 2016, nine health and consumer groups are requesting that extra funding be allocated for the national database used to track foodborne illness outbreaks.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s PulseNet is a national network of public health and
Continue Reading Groups Want Increased Funding to Support CDC’s PulseNet Database
CDC: Shigella Infections Becoming Resistant to Recommended Antibiotic
Research conducted by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) suggests a greater proportion of Shigella infections in the United States are now resistant to a very important antibiotic. Shigella causes an estimated 500,000 cases of diarrhea in the United States annually and is transmitted easily from person
Continue Reading CDC: Shigella Infections Becoming Resistant to Recommended Antibiotic
Outbreak Detection Since Jack in the Box: A Public Health Evolution
In 1993, 623 people in the western U.S. fell ill with a little-known bacteria called E. coli O157:H7. Ultimately, four children would die from their infections; many others suffered long-term medical complications. The bug was later traced to undercooked hamburger served at Jack in the Box restaurants. This outbreak thrust
Continue Reading Outbreak Detection Since Jack in the Box: A Public Health Evolution
Rapid Tests Less Effective in Identifying Foodborne Illness Sources
New tests that detect common foodborne pathogens more rapidly are less likely to trace contamination to the source, since they provide less specific information than older, slower tests, say public health officials. As a consequence, sources of foodborne illnesses outbreaks will not be identified as quickly, state epidemiologists told the
Continue Reading Rapid Tests Less Effective in Identifying Foodborne Illness Sources
Foodborne Illness Investigations: What Does the Public Have a Right to Know?
It seems safe to assume that most consumers want to know if the restaurant they’re about to eat at or the food they’re about to buy was recently the source of a foodborne illness outbreak. What’s less certain, however, is whether the government wants them to know this information. Deciding
Continue Reading Foodborne Illness Investigations: What Does the Public Have a Right to Know?
Case Count from Cantaloupe Outbreak Officially Rises to 147
With the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention linking the Listeria illness, but not yet the death, of a 75-year-old Montana man to last year’s Listeria outbreak tied to Colorado cantaloupes, a CDC official has told Food Safety News that the case count has risen from 146 to 147.
Continue Reading Case Count from Cantaloupe Outbreak Officially Rises to 147
Man’s Death May Be Linked to Last Year’s Listeria Outbreak
Last fall’s outbreak of Listeria traced to cantaloupes from Jensen Farms in Colorado grew into one of the deadliest in U.S. history, causing at least 146 illnesses and 32 deaths. But as with any outbreak, health officials can never say for certain that the contaminated product did not sicken,
Continue Reading Man’s Death May Be Linked to Last Year’s Listeria Outbreak
Taking the Pulse of CDC’s PulseNet
This week at the annual meeting of the Association of Public Health Laboratories in Seattle, officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention – which operates PulseNet – explained the crucial role this pathogen database plays in outbreak detection and the challenges that must be met in order for
State and Federal Programs Helped Catch Contaminated Dog Food
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) was able to connect contaminated dog food to a Salmonella outbreak spread across nine states on Thursday thanks to a combination of routine state-level testing and a national online infection database operated by the CDC itself.
Several brands of Diamond Pet
Continue Reading State and Federal Programs Helped Catch Contaminated Dog Food