August 2006

Nakatani shows heart after illness
Jockey wins Pacific Classic eight days after being released from hospital
By Jay Privman
Daily Racing Form
Aug 23, 2006
DEL MAR, Calif. – Campylobacter jejuni. It looks like what would print out if you smashed your fist on a keyboard. But those tongue-twisting words are the technical name for the bacteria that afflicted jockey Corey Nakatani two weeks ago, made him violently ill, and forced him to a hospital for five days of treatment.
Only eight days after being released from the hospital, Nakatani won the Pacific Classic on Sunday aboard Lava Man. Yet Nakatani admits he is still not back at full strength. He was so drained from Sunday’s races that he took off the second of his two scheduled mounts Monday at Del Mar after riding his first mount.
“I’m still a little weak,” Nakatani said Sunday, a couple of hours after riding Lava Man. “Being in intensive care a week ago, I’m not going to be at my strongest.”Continue Reading Campylobacter can’t hold jockey back

Raw milk has been the source of numerous outbreaks of E. coli O157:H7, Salmonella, Campylobacter, and other outbreaks in recent years. Although advocates of drinking raw milk believe there are health benefits, the risks certainly outweigh them.
An article from the Baxter Bulletin today highlights the debate over the purported benefits of raw milk versus the safety of our food supply and the duties of public health officials who must work to prevent outbreaks of Campylobacter and other foodborne illnesses:
Advocates of raw milk are behind legislative efforts in Tennessee, Ohio, Kentucky and Nebraska to legalize selling raw milk. Moves to introduce legislation have begun in North Carolina and Maryland.Continue Reading Raw milk: Fit for human consumption?

Monday August 14, 2006
By Stephen Ward
The chicken industry says sales have remained steady despite the scare about high rates of human campylobacter infection.
A University of Otago study that appeared last month said New Zealand’s campylobacter rates were the world’s highest. One finding was that up to 90 per cent of fresh raw chicken was contaminated when sold to consumers.
But the Poultry Industry Association’s executive director, Michael Brooks, believes contamination rates are more like 30-40 per cent.
The association said some regions had seen a minor fluctuation in sales, but the overall trend remained steady.
It stressed that proper cooking of meat killed campylobacter.
The scare came after Meat and Wool New Zealand figures showed a decline in poultry consumption in the year to March, unrelated to campylobacter.Continue Reading Disease scare fails to dent consumption of chicken

13 August 2006
By RACHEL GRUNWELL
Paul White was paralysed by poorly cooked lamb shanks. At one stage the Auckland engineer couldn’t breathe unassisted or even blink. His eyes had to be taped shut at night so he could sleep.
This is the frightening world of an extreme case of Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS), which can leave people unable to move.
There is no single cause of GBS, but it can develop a week or two after a throat or intestinal infection. Campylobacter is one recognised cause.
A recent Otago University study showed New Zealand rates of campylobacter poisoning have nearly trebled in the past 15 years to be the highest in the world. Reported cases totalled 1425 in May alone.
Campylobacter is a bacterium that causes stomach cramps, fever and diarrhoea for up to a week.Continue Reading Undercooked lamb shanks leave engineer paralysed

Three times higher than Australia; 30 times higher than the US
09 July 2006
University of Otago public health researchers say New Zealand should seriously consider banning the sale of fresh chicken for human consumption, and switch to frozen chicken instead, to alleviate the country’s serious campylobacter epidemic.
A study by the University’s Wellington School of Medicine and Health Sciences’ researchers just published in the international journal Epidemiology and Infection paints an alarming picture about the rate of campylobacter infection in New Zealand. Infection rates have risen steadily for more than two decades and are now more than three times higher than that reported in Australia and 30 times higher than the United States. This is the first time that New Zealand’s comparative situation has been quantified and comprehensively reported in an international peer-review journal. Since the research was completed, rates have risen to a new high of 416/100,000 for the 12 months ending May 2006, based on 15,553 cases notified during that period.Continue Reading Study reveals New Zealand campylobacter rates highest in world

Updated 8/6/2006
By Elizabeth Weise, USA TODAY
John Langlois feels so strongly about the benefits of unpasteurized goat milk that he pays $19 a gallon to have it shipped from a South Carolina dairy to his home in Estillfork, Ala. He credits it with giving him more energy, curing his grandson’s chronic diarrhea when he was an infant and keeping the boy “steady” rather than “bouncing off the walls” now that he’s 5.
Elizabeth Benner of Rochester, N.Y., drives 45 minutes each way to a dairy to get a week’s worth of raw cow’s milk for nine families in the milk club she organized. She says she was “really struggling” on a low-fat, vegan diet but regained her strength when she added whole raw milk and cream to her diet.
Christina Trecaso of Copley, Ohio, is in a herd share program. She and 150 other families pay boarding costs for “their” cows and take their profits in milk, butter and cream. For her, it’s about “buying food that is minimally processed, food that is procured in a 100-mile radius. … It’s about relationships and shaking the hand that feeds you.”Continue Reading Raw milk: Fit for human consumption?

The Associated Press
CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) – Wyoming Health Department officials have confirmed that fecal matter contaminated the water supply at an Albany County Bible camp where dozens of camp-goers have become sick.
According to the Health Department, lab tests have confirmed both viral and bacterial infections in about a dozen camp-goers, including nine cases of norovirus, six cases of Campylobacter jejuni, a bacterial infection; three people were found to have both.Continue Reading Fecal contamination responsible for Bible camp closure

William Marler (Bill) is the managing partner in the law firm Marler Clark L.L.P., P.S. Since 1993, Bill has represented thousands of victims of E. coli, Salmonella, Hepatitis A, Listeria, Shigella, Campylobacter and Norovirus illnesses in over thirty States.
Food poisoning lawsuits against companies responsible for introducing contaminated food into our food supply have become the focus of Bill’s professional career as an attorney. Bill’s first client who was injured after consuming contaminated food was nine-year-old Brianne Kiner, who fell with an E. coli O157:H7 infection and Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome after eating a contaminated hamburger during the now-infamous Jack in the Box E. coli outbreak of 1993. Bill negotiated a $15.6 million settlement for Brianne’s injuries, a record in the State of Washington for personal injury cases. He resolved several other cases from the Jack in the Box E. coli outbreak for over $2.5 million each.
Bill, known as the “E. coli lawyer,” has since represented thousands of people sickened or killed in outbreaks of E. coli O157:H7 and other food borne pathogens, including Salmonella, Hepatitis, Shigella, Campylobacter, Norovirus, and Listeria. In 1998, he negotiated a reported $12 million settlement for the families of children who fell ill after drinking E. coli-contaminated apple juice sold by Odwalla; and in 2001, a jury awarded the families of eleven children Bill represented $4.6 million for the injuries they received during an E. coli outbreak traced to school lunch served at Finley Elementary School in Finley, Washington. He also resolved dozens of E. coli cases in 2003 related to one of the largest meat recalls in United States history. Bill recently settled an E. coli case in New York for a young girl for $11 million. Bill was also able to secure a $6.25 million settlement on behalf of a client who suffered a kidney transplant as part of the Chi-Chi’s Hepatitis A outbreak.Continue Reading FOOD POISONING LAWYER – FOOD POISONING ATTORNEY