June 2005

Jun 27, 2005
The Children’s Zoo in Toledo was closed for the weekend after three animals tested positive for an infectious bacteria that causes gastrointestinal illness.
No patrons have reported being ill, but officials said Friday that the petting portion of the children’s zoo could remain closed for the rest of the summer.
“This is not a major public health hazard, we’re just being extremely, extremely cautious,” said Andrew Odum, chairman of the zoo’s biological programs committee.Continue Reading Animals Test Positive For Campylobacter

Jun 27, 2005
TOLEDO (AP) — The Children’s Zoo in Toledo was closed for the weekend after three animals tested positive for an infectious bacteria that causes gastrointestinal illness. No patrons have reported being ill, but officials said Friday that the petting portion of the children’s zoo could remain closed for the rest of the summer.
“This is not a major public health hazard, we’re just being extremely, extremely cautious,” said Andrew Odum, chairman of the zoo’s biological programs committee. The zoo is part of the much larger Toledo Zoo.Continue Reading Children’s Zoo Closed After Animals Test Positive for Bacteria

Saturday, June 25, 2005
Petting area may stay shut awhile
By TAD VEZNER
BLADE STAFF WRITER
The Children’s Zoo at the Toledo Zoo was shut down yesterday following the discovery of an infectious bacteria in several of its animals.
And zoo officials said last night that the petting portion of the children’s facility could remain closed for the rest of the summer.
Last week, two baby calves sharing the same stall tested positive during routine testing for a bacteria known as Campylobacter, a common cause of gastrointestinal illness. A sow that had just given birth in an adjacent stall also tested positive.Continue Reading Infectious bacteria in animals closes Children’s Zoo

Breaking News on Supplements & Nutrition in the USA
6/15/2005- New technology could soon make it cheap and easy to identify food pathogens by tagging them with color-coded probes made out of synthetic tree-shaped DNA.
These tiny “nanobarcodes” fluoresce under ultraviolet light in a combination of colors that can then be read by a computer scanner or observed with a fluorescent light microscope.
The Cornell University research group behind the project likens the technology to a supermarket checkout computer, capable of identifying thousands of different items by scanning barcodes.Continue Reading Color coded pathogens offer safer food formulation

To: National and State Desks
Contact: Sean Crowley, 202-478-6128 or 202-550-6524 (cell) or scrowley@mrss.com, for Keeping Antibiotics Working
WASHINGTON, June 9 /U.S. Newswire/ — The U.S. House of Representatives last night passed a measure to ban the federal school lunch program from purchasing poultry treated with Cipro-like antibiotics because this use promotes spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria that cause severe food poisoning. The amendment to the Fiscal Year 2006 Agriculture appropriations bill, offered by U.S. Rep. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), is similar to an amendment offered by U.S. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) that the Senate passed in November 2003 as part of the Fiscal Year 2004 Agriculture appropriations bill. Similar state bills that would ban state school lunch programs from buying chickens treated with Cipro-like antibiotics were introduced earlier this year in Ohio by State Sen. Robert F. Hagan (D-Youngstown, Ohio) and in Maine by State Sen. Scott Cowger (D-Kennebec, Maine).Continue Reading House Passes Rep. Sherrod Brown’s Amendment to Ban School Lunch Program from Buying Chicken Treated with Cipro-like Antibiotic; Cipro’s Effectiveness Compromised

For more information see:
www.about-campylobacter.com
Campylobacter jejuni (Pronounced “camp-e-low-back-ter j-june-eye”) was not recognized as a cause of human foodborne illness prior to 1975. Now, the bacterial organism is known to be the most common cause of bacterial foodborne illness in the U.S.1 (Salmonella is the second most common cause).
Most cases Campylobacter infection occur as isolated, sporadic events, not as a part of the large outbreaks. Even though surveillance is very limited, over 10,000 cases are reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) each year. Active surveillance for cases indicates that over 17 cases for each 100,000 persons in the population (or about 46,000 cases) are diagnosed yearly.1 Undoubtedly, many more cases go undiagnosed and unreported, and estimates are that Campylobacter causes 2-4 million cases per year in the United States.4Continue Reading What is Campylobacter jejuni?

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 6, 2005
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Contact with animals in public settings, such as at fairs and petting zoos, can be fun and educational. However, it also can lead to the transmission of various serious infectious diseases, especially among children.
“This is the season for petting zoos, county fairs and other events where people come in contact with animals and we want to remind everyone that simple prevention steps, such as hand washing, can reduce the risk of illness,” said Dr. Eric E. Whitaker, state public health director. “In fact, hand washing is the single most important step for reducing the risk for disease transmission.”Continue Reading WASH HANDS AFTER CONTACT WITH ANIMALS TO PREVENT DISEASE

Drinking water found to be likely Camp Yamhill disease source
From foodconsumer
B.iological A.gents
By Philip Berger – Oregon Department of Health Services/Public Health
June 3, 2005
DHS news release
State and local public health officials have identified water contamination as the likely source of last week’s disease outbreak at Camp Yamhill in Yamhill County, which sickened more than 50 people.
Mel Kohn, M.D., state epidemiologist in the Oregon Department of Human Services (DHS), said the camp’s water treatment system, which draws water from the North Yamhill River, may have been overwhelmed by surface water run-off caused by recent heavy rainfall.
Kohn said it appears that more than one bacterial contaminant was in the water.
“The laboratory has confirmed cases of both E.coli O157 and Campylobacter, both of which cause diarrhea,” Kohn said. “Those who were infected suffered varying degrees of illness, but we are glad to say that most have recovered.”Continue Reading E. coli O157, religious camp – USA