Personal Injury Law

A Rainy Night In Georgia Is Followed By Spiked Salmonella Levels The Next Morning!

By Marler Clark LLP

A rainy night in Georgia
A rainy night in Georgia
I believe that it's raining all over the world
I feel that it's raining all over the world

Scientific American is out with a report today that says when you add that famous rain to Georgia you end up with lot's of Salmonella.   Talk about taking the romance out of a famous Ray Charles song!

The magazine reports that:

Researchers at the University of Georgia in Athens (U.G.A.) have found that rain ups the risk of salmonella in rivers and streams—and, in turn, in products nourished by and washed in tainted runoff waters. The scientists report in Applied and Environmental Microbiology that 79 percent of water samples from rivers and streams in southern Georgia collected and tested over a year contained the rod-shaped bacteria; concentrations were highest in specimens gathered in the summer months and right after it rained.

Study co-author Erin Lipp, an associate professor of environmental health sciences at U.G.A.'s College of Public Health, says the findings indicate that officials trying to trace the source of salmonella contamination should put untreated surface water at the top of their suspect list.

After a downpour, rainwater accumulates on ground surfaces or in bodies of water. Before it reaches a final destination, the surface water may come into contact with salmonella—which lives in the intestinal tract of humans and animals and can be spread via their feces and vomit. Contaminated water may seep into porous soil—and thereby infiltrate irrigation systems used to nourish fields and wash produce.

There were reports of ponding on the roof and leaks into the Peanut Corporation of American facility in Blakely, GA, which is responsible for the largest ongoing recall of peanut products in U.S. history.

Check here for more from Scientific American.

Full post as published by Salmonella Blog on April 13, 2009 (boomark / email).