Abstract:

Lab results confirm the presence of E. coli O157:H7 in a two-year-old girl that died this weekend and the presence of the bacteria in a close contact of the child. Northeast Regional Health Office Medical Director Dr. David Kirschke also confirms a similar severe strain in Northeast Tennessee.

Seems like no one is really sure what's going on with the ongoing cucumber, lettuce, sprouts, tomato outbreak in Germany. But German officials (same ones who said it was pretty clear that illnesses were linked to sprouts yesterday) said today that there is no evidence that the outbreak has been caused by an organic a farm in Northern Germany.

The U.S. government has OK'd irradiation for a variety of foods — meat, spices, certain imported fruits, the seeds used to grow sprouts. Even iceberg lettuce or spinach can be irradiated without the leaves going limp. And no, it doesn't make the food radioactive.

There’s a whole bunch of folks who like to protect the reputation of raw oysters, and we’ve heard from them before, But it’s raw, and carries risks. Based on blog reports, the San Francisco Oysterfest last month featured raw oysters, beer and a lot of barf.

MANHATTAN -- An expert in vector biology, arthropod-borne infectious diseases, immune modulation and vaccine evaluation is the newest leader of the Biosecurity Research Institute at Kansas State University.

SUMMARY

The head of Germany's national disease control center last night raised the death toll to 22 - 21 people in Germany and one in Sweden - and said another 2,153 people in Germany were ill from the bacteria. That figure includes 627 people who have developed a rare, serious complication that can cause kidney failure. Updates are expected later today.