¡Join the fight!
This is totally my thing. From a Minnesota Dept of Agriculture press release:
Help MDA solve a Food Scene Investigation (FSI) at the Minnesota State Fair
Join Inspector "Trace Back" as he tries to crack the case
ST. PAUL, Minn. - You can play the role of a state food inspector with a visit to the Minnesota Department of Agriculture's (MDA) 2009 Minnesota State Fair booth. The exhibit is a Food Scene Investigation (FSI) where you can help solve a food-borne illness outbreak. Read more...
Hrm. New research says that pigs might be able to contract novel H1N1 swine flu and that the virus could become endemic (entrenched) in pig farms. Via the excellent infectious disease news source CIDRAP: Read more...
One of America's best writers on all matters microbiological, Maryn McKenna, has an excellent piece over at CIDRAP, describing the work of Hong Kong, UK, and US researchers who've come to the conclusion that novel H1N1 swine flu jumped to humans months ago.
The group also determined that livestock needs to be examined more closely for emerging diseases. Read more...
One of America's best writers on all matters microbiological, Maryn McKenna, has an excellent piece over at CIDRAP, describing the work of Hong Kong, UK, and US researchers who've come to the conclusion that novel H1N1 swine flu jumped to humans months ago.
The group also determined that livestock needs to be examined more closely for emerging diseases. Read more...
Smithfield, the owner of the ginormous pig farm near ground zero in the Mexican H1N1 outbreak, says the Mexican government found no evidence of H1N1 in Smithfield's livestock. There was no word from the Mexican government or other public health officials on these tests, however. Read more...
The CAFO-as-ground-zero argument just got a lot easier to prove. Via Tom Laskawy (whom y'all should be reading!):
The preliminary analysis using all the sequences in public databases
(NCBI) suggests that all segments are of swine origin. NA and MP seem
related to Asian/European swine and the rest to North American swine
(H1N2 and H3N2 swine viruses isolated since 1998). There is also
interesting substratification between these groups, suggesting a
multiple reassortment. Read more...
If you haven't started following the MRSA-in-pig-farms story, now's a very good time to pick up the 411 on this lovely little microbe (called "ST 398"). It's worth staying abreast of this story because ST 398 could have devastating effects on the hog industry -- the bug can prey on both the animals themselves and the people who work on those farms. Very scary. Read more...
A salmonella outbreak that has sickened over 400 people in 42 states (no deaths) has been traced to an industrial-sized tub of peanut butter, and, once again, it's the Minnesota Department of Health notching another solved outbreak in its belt. From the Minneapolis Star-Tribune:
Officials from the state Department of Health said late Friday that the salmonella bacteria found in 30 Minnesotans believe to have been sickened by eating King Nut brand creamy peanut butter has the same genetic fingerprint as the salmonella bacteria found in 400 sick people in 42 states.
and
Kirk Smith [pictured here] , supervisor of food-borne diseases at the state Department of Health, said the clue in this outbreak was that many of the Minnesotans who became ill had eaten in institutional settings. That included nursing homes, schools and colleges, he said.
Specifically, they were eating peanut butter from the wittily named King Nut which distributes peanut butter for the much less wittily named Peanut Corporation of America (PCA), whose presser, at their website, is already laying down the company's legal defense:
