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E. coli outbreak spread to six US states - CDC

Last Updated: 2006-12-08 11:18:40 -0400 (Reuters Health)

By Maggie Fox

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - An outbreak of Escherichia coli infection that has sickened 58 people, some seriously, may still be spreading and its source has not yet been found, a U.S. federal health expert said on Thursday.

DNA fingerprints of the bacteria taken from patients are being entered into a database run by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and will be analyzed to see if they are all from the same source, said Dr. Robert Pauxe, deputy director of the CDC's Division of Foodborne, Bacterial and Mycotic Disease. So far, 58 cases have been officially reported to the CDC from six states -- New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Utah and Delaware, the agency said. Most have been traced to Taco Bell restaurants. "The risk to the public is considered ongoing and we expect additional cases to be identified in the coming days," the CDC said in a statement on its Web site at http://www.cdc.gov."There is no question that we are seeing more of these rather large outbreaks, and particularly ones that are related to produce," Pauxe said in a telephone interview. In September, E. coli traced to farmed spinach from California's Salinas Valley killed three people and infected more than 200 in 26 states. In November, restaurant tomatoes contaminated with another type of bacteria, salmonella, made 183 people sick in 21 U.S. states and Canada. But Pauxe said -- and other federal food safety experts agree -- that reports of foodborne diseases in the United States have been declining in the past 10 years. Food poisoning is still very common. The CDC estimates that there are 76 million cases of foodborne disease in the United States each year and that 5,000 people die from such infections. E. coli, notably the virulent 0157 strain, infects 73,000 people a year and kills 60. The latest outbreak has sent 48 people to the hospital, according to the CDC and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Seven have a serious kind of kidney failure called hemolytic uremic syndrome. FOCUS ON GREEN ONIONS The New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services asked all Taco Bells in the state to throw away food from one supplier, McLane Foodservice, Inc. of Burlington, New Jersey, to discard all current food supplies and to clean and sanitize their facilities. Taco Bell Corp., a unit of Yum Brands. Inc., sent samples of green onions to an independent lab and said at least three samples appeared to be contaminated with E. coli. The company had closed eight restaurants on Long Island and one in New Jersey following the E. coli outbreak, but said on Tuesday that those were set to reopen. Pauxe said it was unusual to have an outbreak like this in December. E. coli outbreaks are more common in the late summer and autumn, he said. Suppliers said green onions used this time of year are often imported from Mexico. But the FDA said it was looking at several possible culprits. "FDA is obtaining samples of all non-meat items served in the restaurants that could carry the pathogen. These include cilantro, cheddar cheese, blended cheese, green onions, yellow onions, tomatoes and lettuce. The samples will be tested at FDA laboratories. The states involved are testing as well," the agency said in a statement. One member of Congress, Connecticut Democratic Rep. Rosa DeLauro, said faulty food safety regulations were at fault. The FDA and the U.S. Department of Agriculture are both responsible for food safety. Pauxe noted that food production cannot be sterile. "Animals are raised with other animals. And plants are, except for a very few that are raised in a greenhouse, they are raised outdoors also," he said. "I think our food supply is safer than it was 100 years ago. I think it could be safer yet."

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