Health Law

Michigan, Ohio, and New York E. coli Outbreak Update

By Drew Falkenstein

Not much new to report:  as many as 47 people sickened by E. coli O145 in an outbreak with recognized foodpoisoning cases in Michigan, Ohio, and New York.  There are 15 lab-confirmed cases of E. coli O145 in the three states, and 32 people whose illnesses are thought to be related to the outbreak, but whose stool tests are still pending. 

The Michigan E. coli O145 cases have occurred in Washtenaw County, which includes Ann Arbor, and the Ohio part of the outbreak has been confined to Columbus.  Recently, multiple New York cases were determined to be possibly linked to the E. coli O145 outbreak in Michigan and Ohio; and the New York cases appear to be college students as well attending Daemen College in Buffalo, New York.  It is thought that as many as 11 people at Daemen College, or in the general area, have been sickened with E. coli O145 in the outbreak.

So far, tests on four different kinds of foods (or maybe different types/variations of a single food?) have not returned a positive result for E. coli O145.  Misti Crane of the Columbus Dispatch reports as follows:

Tests on food from suspect sources in Michigan hasn't revealed anything to help investigators determine what sickened at least 15 people in a multistate E. coli outbreak that also includes New York and Ohio.

The samples tested in Michigan were not contaminated, which is not surprising because they were collected after people developed symptoms of infection, said Susan R. Cerniglia, spokeswoman for Washtenaw County Public Health.

Four food samples are being tested at the Ohio Department of Agriculture's lab in Reynoldsburg, but results were not available yesterday. Department spokeswoman Kaleigh Frazier has said the department will not disclose the types of food under investigation until and unless something is linked to the outbreak.

Full post as published by Food Poison Blog on April 30, 2010 (boomark / email).