Canada
Health officials
hunt for mystery source of contamination after at least 64 cases hit B.C.
Pamela Fayerman,
Vancouver Sun
Published: Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Source of Article: http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=7e060d93-4656-46ec-857c-ab88a34f16b6&p=2
Public health officials have issued an alert about a food poisoning outbreak
that has hit at least 64 B.C. residents in the past few months, nearly double
the 39 cases in all of 2007. More cases are expected this week.
"People have to cook food properly to avoid these infections from
contaminated food sources," Dr. Eleni Galanis, a BC Centre for Disease Control
physician-epidemiologist, said Monday.
About 50 public health officials across B.C. are involved in an
investigation to find the mystery source of the food poisoning cases, caused by
a strain called salmonella enteritidis. Reports of
cases have come from all parts of the province, but most of those afflicted
have been residents of the Lower Mainland who provided stool samples to
laboratories for testing.
No one has died from the infection but a few people have been in hospital as
a result of their symptoms, which include diarrhea, cramps, vomiting and fever.
About a third of the cases have received antibiotic treatment from a doctor
or hospital.
Salmonella enteritidis is usually spread through
contaminated eggs, poultry, other meats and fresh produce. Galanis
said there isn't a single food, farm, store or restaurant that has been implicated
so far.
"It's been somewhat frustrating because the usual sources are poultry,
eggs or produce. ... But we're not finding any patterns yet so we're exploring
rare sources, like other meats.
"There are occasionally promising leads, but every time we think we've
got one, it hasn't panned out," she said.
Agencies involved in the investigation include the BCCDC, health
authorities, the provincial agriculture ministry, the Canadian Food Inspection
Agency and the federal Public Health Agency.
Individuals who have tested positive for the infection are being interviewed
to find out what they did in the days before they started having symptoms,
including where they ate and any events they attended.
If they have leftover food still in their fridges, samples are being sent to
labs for testing. Inspectors are buying foods that have been mentioned so they
can be tested.
Restaurants and farms will be inspected if there are common foods and
sources that appear to be tied to the outbreak.
Galanis conceded it is possible that health
officials will never find the culprit.
"We expect the number of confirmed cases will rise this week, but we
also think the cases may soon start to plateau. It's possible we won't solve
this and the outbreak will burn out naturally," she added.
A large United Kingdom study found that one in 700 eggs contained the S. enteritidis strain, so it is important to cook eggs before
eating them and to wash hands after handling raw eggs.
The salmonella strain isolated and circulating in B.C. is not the same as
the one connected to 1,300 illnesses in the
Initially,
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