Twenty States Affected by E. Coli Outbreak

AWWW POOP!!! I love spinich too.

Has there been any word yet on how it got onto the spinich yet?

Well, today, this girl that came into work (only on Saturdays) found a leftover bag of salad mix, which included baby leaf spinach (and it was Dole). She made out a sample salad, and was so confused when a woman came up to her and told her the salad should be thrown out immediately along with any other mix. She looked so confused, I had to explain it to her. I just tipped my cap, and said, "you should come here, you'll get all this info an more." She had never heard of ATS! *spit*

Yes, I wear an ATS hat at work.

I did hear about a restaurant in the French Quarter that was doing pizzas with Char-Grilled Spinach on top. They said the bacteria wouldn't live if the spinach was burnt. Apparently they had a lot of buyers!

These crazy people that are my neighbors!

These are the stories that I have heard over the years. I'm a NYer and have
never witnessed first hand workers in the fields.

I really hope they are using the facilites they have been provided with.
I only hope that we are told the truth of where the contamination came from
as well.

LL1, that was an informative link you provided.
I remember 25 years ago when the INS actually raided fields and ranches, the undocumented workers picked up and deported (without getting their pay sometimes!). One raid took place next door to my then rural house, where my neighbor was raising fighting roosters, selling them to farmworkers.
Haven't seen any such raids in years, and this study explains why
are.berkeley.edu...

This story, almost a year old, might hold a clue to this current outbreak.
californianonline.com
If even one source of spinach was contaminated, maybe that source found its way into many bags, or contaminated other sources. I feel sorry for the organic growers who are hurt by this, and buyers, like me, who enjoy their produce.

From what I've been reading of the older cases, the e coli contamination was not from an application of biosolids or manure fertilizers on the crops. The suspect is water, especially from one location. I wonder how much lawsuits play into reports only identifying a source as "possible"?

Even the FDA said Salinas Valley needs to get a handle on this e coli contamination. Can they?

Mod Edit: Link format edited. Please review this post.



[edit on 16-9-2006 by DontTreadOnMe]

Does anyone else think this E.Coli scare reek of a conspiracy or am I just being paranoid.

Sabotage is always a possiblity, either from some organized group or just some nincompoop. Personally, I think the cause will turn out to be accidental or negligent.

THe common denominator is that all these brands sell bagged spinach ... the people coming down with E Coli have been found to have eaten bagged spinach or products from them as a commonality. They have yet to figure out which brand of bagged spinach is the culprit ... so in the interest of safety they're saying avoid ALL bagged spinach until it gets worked out.

Originally posted by SourGrapes
What's the common denominator for all of these brands? Could they all be buying from the same vendor/farm? If so...

Could it be the fertilizer?

I usually don't take an interest in bio outbreaks and such, but sometimes the truth hits home when it affects you. My fiance' has been sick with all the symptoms of E. Coli since a week and a half. She is getting slightly better, and went to the ER about a week ago and they told her she needed antibiotics and such. She isn't real good at getting information of what they tell her, so I didn't think a lot of it except that she had maybe an infection of some sort. Well, it is obvious to me that it isn't the flu now because it is running a longer course. I thought back to the time when she got these symptoms and it was within a week after I had bought her a different mixed bagged salad that I normally do not get her at the grocery. I normally buy her an iceberg lettuce mix, but something at that time made me buy the "greener" variety mix which had spinach in it. I don't eat salads, but it looked like a better salad to me so I got it for her. She came down with all the E.Coli symptoms which I thought was just some routine bug that everyone gets now and then until this outbreak. Tomorrow I am taking her back to the hospital to get a test for E. Coli and copies of her previous visit records so I can see what was done.

Will let you know what happens.

Does anyone know the incubation period of an e coli infection? I've been eating about a bay of just baby spinach leaves every week until this story broke and am currently waiting for intestinal cramping and bloody stool to appear. Just wondering how long I should be sweating bullets for.

this is why we all should be growing our own veggies.
i plan on building a greenhouse very soon.

PapaHomer, I googled e coli and read the first source of many
www.about-ecoli.com...

The incubation period for E. coli O157:H7 infection (i.e., the period from ingestion of the bacteria to the start of symptoms) is typically 3 to 9 days, although shorter and longer periods are not that unusual. An incubation period of less than 24 hours would be unusual, however.

Ben, good idea of going back to doctor.

Disasters like this bring up our vulnerabilities, as an individual and as a nation. I would rather blame this on one person or business, but we need to step back and take a look at the bigger picture: water.
One can get e coli from a family garden, but thinking that an agri-business is necessarily better is not true. A huge farm in the west relies on irrigation water, not rainfall. A family well might test positive for high bacteria, but most citizens today rely on water systems. For example, my town regularly sent out summer warnings of elevated bacteria counts, reaching mailboxes after people had become slightly ill.

the Raccoon -- from which Des Moines draws most of its drinking water -- had E. coli readings up to three times higher than NOLA's toxic gumbo five times in 2005 alone. The river's all-time high was set in 1996, the first year of regular monitoring, when a 100 mL sample contained 154,020 E. coli colonies -- a whopping 770 times higher than the EPA's national no-contact standard.

grist.org

I remember when my spouse and I would go out camping in the backwoods, and we'ld jokingly say it was time to leave when we "pooped out" the place (we did comply with waste disposal methods). Guess what, many of the beaches citizens went to swim or walk along the shoreline at this summer were "pooped out" already.

We're told to prepare for the horrors of a possible disease from another country, but kept silent on what is going on in the water around us. Spend billions on vaccines and another country's water system, when the same tax dollars should be spent on the problem at home. Homeland Security and public health are falling short, when the answer to water quality is buying a filter from a business down the street.

posted by ben91069

My fiance' has been sick with all the symptoms of E. Coli a week and a half. She went to the ER a week ago. They told her she needed antibiotics and such. It is obvious to me it isn't the flu now because it is running a longer course. She got these symptoms a week after I had bought her a different salad mix I normally do not get at the grocery. I normally buy an iceberg lettuce mix, but something at that time made me buy the "greener" variety mix which had spinach in it. I don't eat salads. She came down with all the E. Coli symptoms which I thought was just some routine bug that everyone gets now and then until this outbreak. Tomorrow I am taking her back to the hospital to get a test for E. Coli and copies of her previous visit records so I can see what was done. Will let you know what happens. [Edited By Don W]

Well, here we go again. Nobody wants the government to do anything like inspect the food chain or follow up on its handling, shipping and storage. Keep the government off my back! Now that we are getting sick from the lack of concern for our health shown by the private industrialist that engage in corporate farming, who by the way, use vast quantities of taxpayer furnished water bought at less than 10% its FMV - Fair Market Value - which goes through the Dept of Interior, we’ll maybe find out later, what happened. This looks to be handled about as slowly as the Dpt HS handled the Katrina response.

“Hey Brownie, you’re doing a heck of a job!”

Poor people, I hope they can get help and all.

Two words: Germ Warfare.
As a conspiracy theory, I think it's certainly possible.

Ok, who and why?

My deductions:

1. The FDA letter of Nov 2005 is a cya of a cya (2nd warning). They knew this danger was present and clear. (thnx Sofi)

2. Someone wants to bring attention to labor issues? Illegal immigrants, or their illegal employers?

3. There are other govt issues such as this happy horse#, Nobles Need Not Pay Taxes or this "Republican revolt" over kangaroo courts and the Geneva Conventions that someone wants to see obscured by sensationalizing this news. You know, a dasdardly distraction.

4. As a terrorist plot, it's possible too.

5. And of course the Fear Factor to psyche out the masses, once again.



I had an unopened bag of Dole I had to throw out.

[edit on 17-9-2006 by psyopswatcher]

I don't see how this could be just confined to spinach, since I imagine various lettuce types and other vegetables are grown using the same water and fertilizer sources in close proximity.

I am not buying any prepackaged prepacked fresh produce and am carefully cleaning with soap and water everything else. Luckly my store here in NYC shows where the produce came from, so I can get it from New Jersey (which seems so far to be unaffected) rather than California.

Originally posted by psyopswatcher
Two words: Germ Warfare.
As a conspiracy theory, I think it's certainly possible.

Ok, who and why?

My deductions:

1. The FDA letter of Nov 2005 is a cya of a cya (2nd warning). They knew this danger was present and clear. (thnx Sofi)

I agree there is a conspiracy - but not (at this point) to release pathogens.

The germ warfare campaign already is about a century old - the pathogens already saturate our environment - and they're mutating, cross-breeding and hybridizing. The perpetrators are international corporations seeking to take over nations.

The cover-ups here are about keeping the information from the public, main point being that our world - and food industries - are completely contaminated. Already.

Because these products are commonly consumed in their raw state without processing to reduce or eliminate pathogens, the manner in which they are grown, harvested, packed, processed, and distributed is crucial to ensuring that microbial contamination is minimized, thereby reducing the risk of illness to consumers. In 1998, the FDA issued guidance to industry entitled "Guide to Minimize Microbial Food Safety Hazards for Fruits and Vegetables."

This Guide recommends good agricultural practices (GAPs) and good manufacturing practices (GMPs) that growers, packers, and shippers may undertake to address common risk factors in their operations, and thereby minimize food safety hazards potentially associated with fresh produce.


FDA Letter to California Firms that Grow, Pack, Process, or Ship Fresh and Fresh-cut Lettuce

Note: The FDA says industry may take action to protect the public, not that they must.





[edit on 18-9-2006 by soficrow]

A two year old child has died and it is suspected he is yet another victim of spinach contaminated with e. coli bacteria.

A 2-year-old Idaho boy's death could be linked to the nationwide outbreak of spinach contaminated with E. coli bacteria, a state health official said.

The boy, Kyle Allgood, may have eaten spinach in the days before becoming ill. Testing results are expected sometime next week, said Idaho epidemiologist Dr. Christine Hahn, who spoke to CNN affiliate KBCI in Boise.

Kyle became sick September 15 after friends said his mother had blended spinach into a smoothie for him. He was initially hospitalized at Portneuf Medical Center in the eastern Idaho town of Chubbuck, before being transferred to Primary Children's Medical Center in Salt Lake City where he died overnight Wednesday from kidney complications, according to CNN affiliate KSL.

www.cnn.com...

do the scienttists that were assassinated a while back have any expertise in ecoli or any other dieases

The media is buzzing over the spinach crisis, caused by an outbreak of the potentially lethal bacterium E. coli O157:H7. A curious yet widespread claim is that, because some of the spinach so far identified as contaminated came from organic farms, organic farming is unsafe. It's a curious claim, because scientists understand pretty well where the O157:H7 is coming from: the bellies of factory-farmed cows. Their manure, as it turns out, is now crawling with the critters.

Spinach, Feedlots and Knowing the Backstory

oops

[edit on 23-9-2006 by soficrow]

A toddler's death in Idaho has been linked to E. coli.

A 2-year-old boy who died from kidney failure last month had been infected with the same strain of E. coli bacteria that prompted a nationwide consumer warning on fresh spinach and sickened at least 192 people, authorities said Wednesday.

Kyle Allgood was the second confirmed death in the outbreak, which also killed an elderly Wisconsin woman.

"This confirms what we suspected for quite some time," said Ross Mason, a spokesman for the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare. "Confirming that, though, was important information and will help us in the future if we have similar situations."

The boy, who would have turned 3 in December, died Sept. 20 in Salt Lake City after developing a type of kidney failure caused by E. coli. Health officials had to wait for the results of genetic testing on the bacteria to determine whether his illness was from fresh spinach.

www.yakima-herald.com...

Although the article claims that this is the second death attributed to the e. coli outbreak there is another suspicious case of a toddler dying of the bacterial infection.

The E Coli bacteria outbreak, now in 20 states, has hit the Ohio Valley with a tragedy. A little girl from Cambridge Ohio has died just weeks before her second birthday. And Children's Hospital confirmed she had E Coli. But is it the same as all of the people dieing from the spinach E.coli?

Little Olivia Perkins of Cambridge was treated at a Guernsey County Hospital at first and was sent home. Later, she got even sicker and was sent to Children's Hospital where they found she had E Coli bacteria. The County Health Department checked everything from swimming pool water to a petting zoo at a local festival. They could not find any E Coli. But now that the spinach re-call is making national news the family remembers they put spinach leaves on sandwiches. The Cambridge -Guernsey County Health Department has called an epidemiologist in on the case. They have made DNA tests....to see if this is indeed the same strain that's being linked to bad spinach nationwide. They expect the results will be back any day now. Olivia died on August 22.

wowktv.com...

[edit on 2006/10/6 by GradyPhilpott]