Health Law

Sprout Outbreak Update: this may get messy

By Marler Clark

Here is a copy of the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report from the CDC addressing the recent sprout outbreak.  We have been reporting on this for weeks now (maybe months), since cases were first report in Nebraska in February.  Please take a look at this report; it provides a good summary of the anatomy of an outbreak, especially when sprouts are the vehicle. 

Moreover, consider now that the CDC is reporting at least 228 illnesses from 13 states (including NE, IA, SD, MI, KA, PA, MN, OH, IL, WV, FL, NC, and UT).  These outbreaks are evolving things, and more illnesses may ultimately be determined to have been confirmed in this outbreak by the time all is said and done.  But even if a hundred additional illnesses are added, that's nothing compared to the true scope and impact of this outbreak.  I've been posting for weeks that the number of likely ill people in this outbreak already exceeds a thousand, maybe many thousands.  But that's only part of the story.

There are many other victims in these outbreaks.  In fact, this is exactly what Bill Marler is speaking to the House of Lords in England about this week:  How One Peanut Company Caused 1.5 Billion Dollars in Losses.  My guess is that there are many more victims in this current sprout outbreak, in the form of both people and business losses, than the 228 people who are currently recognized as victims in the CDC report.  How many millions, hundreds of millions, billions (a little too bold??? maybe, maybe not) will the outbreak now linked to Caudill Seed cause?  Only time, and a little hard-driving discovery about what Caudill Seed knew and when they knew it, will tell.

Full post as published by Food Poison Blog on May 11, 2009 (boomark / email).