Drop in Food-borne Illness

The U.S. government on Thursday reported steep declines in the incidence of food-borne infections since 1996.

Perhaps most significant of all, the number of infections from the potentially deadly E.coli O157:H7 pathogen, often associated with undercooked beef, dropped 36 percent between 2002 and 2003. The overall incidence of infection from this pathogen has gone down 42 percent.

Also infections from other sources, including campylobacter, Cryptosporidium parvum, Salmonella, and Yersinia enterocolitica also declined.

Even so, challenges remain. Yesterday, for example, Excel Corporation, a subsidiary of Cargill, recalled approximately 45,030 pounds of ground beef over fears of possible E.coli O157:H7 contamination. Some of the meat was sold to distributors in Kansas, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Missouri, Alabama, Illinois, Texas and Minnesota.

Also, Taiwanese doctors have identified a potentially fatal strain of salmonella bacteria that is resistant to two antibiotics widely used to treat serious infections.

Posted by Jim Langcuster at April 30, 2004 10:33 AM | TrackBack