Prions can survive sewage treatment, UW-Madison study says
13 Jul 2008
JS Online - Elie Dolgin [edited] [iFSN]
Mad cow disease-causing prions can survive conventional sewage treatment, according to a new study by University of Wisconsin-Madison scientists.Prions — rogue misfolded proteins that cause mad cow disease, chronic wasting disease, and its human equivalent, variant Creutzfeldt- Jakob disease — are not degraded by standard wastewater decontamination and can end up in fertilizers, potentially contaminating crops.It is unlikely the prions would be guzzled in treated tap water, expert says. Prions never have been reported in U.S. municipal sewage. Prions are notoriously resilient to extreme heat, caustic chemicals and irradiation, but it wasn’t known how they would fare under the standard barrage of treatments applied to wastewater sludge. Infectious prions may enter wastewater from a number of routes, including contaminated disposed carcasses from slaughterhouses, animal rendering or meatpacking facilities and private game hunters. After the 2002 outbreak of chronic wasting disease in Wisconsin, deer carcasses initially were discarded in Dane County’s public landfill. Months later, officials shifted to incineration out of fear of prions leaching through the waste. Humans with Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease also can shed prions in their urine, feces or blood. Laboratory facilities are another potential prion source.

United States - Pigs raised without antibiotics more likely to carry bacteria, parasites
11 June 2008
Wondwossen Gebreyes [edited] [iFSN]
It is reported that while consumers are increasing demand for pork produced without antibiotics, more of the pigs raised in such conditions carry bacteria and parasites associated with foodborne illnesses, according to a new study. A comparison of swine raised in antibiotic-free and conventional pork production settings revealed that pigs raised outdoors without antibiotics had higher rates of three foodborne pathogens than did pigs on conventional farms, which remain indoors and receive preventive doses of antimicrobial drugs. The researchers theorized that naturally raised pigs' exposure to moisture, vegetation and other animal species could contribute to their higher rates of pathogens. This study is part of a comprehensive examination of food safety issues related to pork production that includes testing pigs for a broader range of disease-causing organisms.

Consumers weigh in on pasteurization temperatures
05 June 2008
Dairy Herd [edited] [iFSN]
Interest in higher pasteurization temperatures for fluid milk has increased in recent years. In the May Journal of Dairy Science, food scientists at Mississippi State University discuss consumer acceptability of milk pasteurized for 15 seconds at 170 degrees F, 175 F, 180 F or 185 F. Their findings show that altering the pasteurization temperature between 170 F and 185 F affected consumer acceptability, particularly during the first week after pasteurization. Source: May 2008 Journal of Dairy Science

North America - Mild American Bird-Flu Strains Gained Ability to Attack Humans
26 May 2008
Bloomberg.com [edited] [Promed]
It is reported in this story that according to government researchers, mild bird flu strains circulating in North America have gained some ability to infect human cells and should be monitored for dangerous mutations. According to a U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) scientist in Atlanta, the virus family called H7 is genetically different from the H5N1 strain and mutations in the H7 strain could make it dangerous to humans, especially as some strains of H7 have increased their ability to stick to proteins on the surface of human lung cells.
26 May 2008 – Scientists identify 2nd H7 strain of bird flu that could cause pandemic
The Times online
26 May 2008 – North American bird flu viruses becoming more adapted to humans
The Canadian Press
[ 27 May 2008 - The Abstract of Open Access paper is published in the issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, vol. 105, no. 21, 7557563, 1908
Title: Contemporary North American influenza H7 viruses possess human receptor specificity: Implications for virus transmissibility
Authors: Jessica A. Belser, Ola Blixt, Li-Mei Chen, Claudia Pappas, Taronna R. Maines, Neal Van Hoeven, Ruben Donis, Julia Busch, Ryan McBride, James C. Paulson, Jacqueline M. Katz, and Terrence M. Tumpey ]

E. coli also a presence among swine
20 May 2008
University of Arkansas, Food Safety Consortium [iFSN]
E. coli O157:H7, an organism that causes gastrointestinal disease in humans, is generally associated with cattle. But it can also be recovered from swine to a lesser extent. Recent research at Iowa State University revealed that the pathogen can be transmitted through the air among swine, even when there is no direct contact between them. An ISU associate professor of veterinary microbiology had also performed a similar experiment with sheep and found that E. coli wasn’t transmitted as easily as in pigs. Other experiments have also shown that E. coli O157:H7 can establish and maintain a population in some pigs’ intestinal tracts for at least two months, indicating that the bacterium can colonize swine. The incidence of the pathogen in swine remains small but worthy of notice. It was also noted that one U.S. slaughter facility recovered E. coli O157:H7 in 2 percent of its pigs, and the bacterium has also been recovered from healthy swine in Japan, Chile, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden.

United States - Scientists closer to developing botulinum toxin antidote
13 May 2008
Empowher.com - hernews
It is reported that U.S. scientists say they've made a breakthrough in efforts to develop an effective antidote for botulinum toxin. According to this story, the researchers developed a protein that blocks the effects of the most powerful of these toxins by fooling it into not attacking cells in the body. The findings are published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry.

Is it safe to eat that? Raw oysters, risk assessment and the rhetoric of science
01 Apr 2008
Social Epistemology, Volume 22, Issue 2 April 2008, pages 129 - 143
Robert Danisch; Jessica Mudry [edited] [iFSN]
Recently, oysters have been identified by the US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) as a risky food to eat because they may or may not contain the pathogenic bacteria Vibrio parahaemolyticus . The USFDA's attempts to manage the risk manifest themselves in a “Quantitative Risk Assessment”, a report that attempts to quantify and predict the number of oyster eaters that will fall ill from Vibrio . In seeking to produce knowledge and eliminate uncertainty, the USFDA, through the use of a discourse of quantification, does the opposite. Instead, we argue, documents such as risk assessments are best understood as kinds of rhetorical practice. According to this perspective, these documents are epistemologically and ontologically reductive, produce uncertainty, politicize the act of eating, and serve an ironic function.

Salmonella strains in humans distinct from animals
26 Mar 2008
Press release
(D.M. Heithoff, W.R. Shimp, P.W. Lau, G.Badie, E.Y. Enioutina, R.A. Daynes, B.A. Byrne, J.K. House, M.J. Mahan. 2008. Human Salmonella clinical isolates distinct from those of animal origin. Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 74. 6: 1757-1766.)
A new study suggests Salmonella strains collected from human salmonellosis patients to be distinct from those of animal origin, a finding that could significantly impact the development of treatment methods for foodborne illnesses. The researchers report their findings in the March 2008 journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology. In the study researchers tested the virulence capacities of 184 human and animal S. enterica isolates in mice. Results showed that all 21 serovar typhimurium isolates derived from animals were virulent in mice, while only 16 of 41 serovar typhimurium isolates collected from human salmonellosis patients were virulent. In contrast to all animal and human bacteremia samples tested, only 10 of 29 serovar typhimurium isolates from gastroenteritis patients were virulent. Lastly, among the serovar typhimurium isolates harboring virulent Salmonella , 6 of 31 from human salmonellosis patients were avirulent in mice, in direct contrast to the virulence exhibited by all the animal isolates studied. “These studies suggest that Salmonella isolates derived from human salmonellosis patients are distinct from those of animal origin,” say the researchers. “The characterization of these bacterial strain variants may provide insight into their relative pathogenicities as well as into the development of treatment and prophylactic strategies for salmonellosis.”

Corn-based film foils food-poisoning bugs
26 Mar 2008
New Scientist
Hot dogs, deli meats and other processed meats can harbour Listeria monocytogenes , which causes 2500 cases of food poisoning and 500 deaths in the US each year. But a novel packaging film made from renewable materials such as corn residues could stamp out Listeria and other food-borne bugs.
Tony Jin at the US Department of Agriculture in Wyndmoor, Pennsylvania, created a biodegradable polylactic acid (PLA) film containing a natural antimicrobial agent called nisin. When Jin spiked orange juice and egg whites with Listeria, E. coli O157:H7 and Salmonella enteriditis , and placed them on the film, it killed significant numbers of bacteria (Journal of Food Science, DOI: 10.1111/j.1750-3841.2008.00681.x).

Variation in virulence among clades of Escherichia coli O157:H7 associated with disease outbreaks
25 Mar 2008
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) Vol. 105, No. 12
Shannon D. Manning*, Alifiya S. Motiwala{dagger}, A. Cody Springman*, Weihong Qi*, David W. Lacher*, Lindsey M. Ouellette*, Jani
Several recent outbreaks involving O157 contamination of fresh produce (e.g., spinach) were associated with more severe disease, as defined by higher hemolytic uremic syndrome and hospitalization frequencies, suggesting that increased virulence has evolved. To test this hypothesis, researchers of this study developed a system that detects SNPs in 96 loci and applied it to >500 E. coli O157 clinical strains. The findings suggest that an emergent subpopulation of the clade 8 lineage has acquired critical factors that contribute to more severe disease. The ability to detect and rapidly genotype O157 strains belonging to such lineages is important and will have a significant impact on both disease diagnosis and treatment guidelines.
*Microbial Evolution Laboratory, National Food Safety and Toxicology Center, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824; {dagger}Division of Infectious Diseases, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, Newark, NJ 07103; {ddagger}Bureau of Laboratories, Michigan Department of Community Health, Lansing, MI 48909; §National Center for Food Safety and Technology, Illinois Institute of Technology, Summit, IL 60501; and Foodborne and Diarrheal Diseases Branch, National Center for Infectious Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA 30333
Edited by Masatoshi Nei, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, and approved January 25, 2008 (received for review November 16, 2007)

Drugs found in drinking water
10 Mar 2008
Associated Press - Jeff Donn, Martha Mendoza and Justin Pritchard
An Associated Press investigation was cited as finding that a vast array of pharmaceuticals — including antibiotics, anti-convulsants, mood stabilizers and sex hormones — have been found in the drinking water supplies of at least 41 million Americans. In the course of a five-month inquiry, the AP discovered that drugs have been detected in the drinking water supplies of 24 major metropolitan areas — from Southern California to Northern New Jersey, from Detroit to Louisville
Water providers rarely disclose results of pharmaceutical screenings, unless pressed, the AP found. The situation is undoubtedly worse than suggested by the positive test results in the major population centers documented by the AP.

United States - New technique puts DNA profiling of E. coli on fast track
10 Mar 2008
Press Release
Michigan State University has developed a new technique to test the DNA of E. coli bacteria by examining very small genetic changes called single nucleotide polymorphisms or SNPs (pronounced snips). Using SNPs, scientists analyzed 96 markers, making genetic analysis of pathogenic bacteria possible at a rate never before accomplished.
In a new study released in the Monday edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, “Variation in Virulence Among Clades of Escherichia coli O157:H7 Associated With Disease Outbreaks,” in collaboration with David Alland of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, Whittam discovered that individual bacteria could be separated into nine major groups, called clades. E. coli makes people sick because they produce toxins, called Shiga toxins, and the different clades produced different kinds of Shiga toxins in varying amounts based on their DNA. Rapid genetic characterization also opens up a new world of possibilities for identifying the bacterial culprits in outbreaks and finding out where they originated. Scientists will be able to identify those bacteria making people sick, find out where they entered the food source and then use this information to reduce contamination.
Whittam also has plans to use this methodology to study other bacterial strains, like Shigella , a major cause of diarrhea around the world.
Related Sources
12 Mar 2008- Researchers confirm virulence differences in E. coli O157:H7 strains
CIDRAP News - Lisa Schnirring

Poultry workers carry antibiotic-resistant germs
19 Dec 2007
World Poultry Net
It has been revealed in a US study that poultry workers are 32 times more likely to carry antibiotic-resistant E. coli bacteria than non-poultry workers. Researchers at Johns Hopkins University's Bloomberg School of Public Health reported they found that E. coli are common in the industrial broiler chicken environment, the researchers said their study is the first US research to show exposure occurring at a high level among industrial poultry workers. According to Lance Price, the lead author, for over 50 years the use of antimicrobials has been present in the United States. There are estimates indicating well over half of the antimicrobial drugs produced in the US are used in food animal production.

Effect of hand wash agents on controlling the transmission of pathogenic bacteria from hands to food
05 Dec 2007
Journal of Food Protection Fischler, George E.; Fuls, Janice L.; Dail, Elizabeth W.; Duran, Melani H.; Rodgers, Nancy D.; Waggoner, Andrea L.
The goals of this study were to evaluate the effectiveness of two hand wash regimens in reducing transient bacteria on the skin following a single hand wash and the subsequent transfer of the bacteria to a ready-to-eat food item, freshly cut cantaloupe melon. The number of bacteria recovered from hands and the quantity transferred to the melon were significantly less following the use of an antibacterial soap compared with plain soap. The antimicrobial soap achieved >3-log reductions versus Escherichia coli and 3.31- and 2.83-log reductions versus Shigella flexneri. The plain soap failed to achieve a 2-log reduction against either organism. The bacteria recovered from the melon handled by hands treated with antimicrobial hand soap averaged 2 log. Melon handled following hand washing with plain soap had >3 log bacteria in the experiments. Based on previously published feeding studies, an infection rate in the range of approximately 15 to 25% would be expected after ingesting melon containing 2 log CFU compared with ingesting greater than the 3 log transferred from hands washed with plain soap, which would result in a higher infection attack rate of 50 to 80%. The data thus demonstrate there is a greater potential to reduce the transmission and acquisition of disease through the use of an antimicrobial hand wash than through the use of plain soap.

Approaches for reducing Salmonella in pork production
15 Nov 2007
Journal of Food Protection®, Volume 70, Number 11, November 2007, pp. 2676-2694(19)
Ojha, Shivani; Kostrzynska, Magdalena
To reduce the presence of Salmonella, a dynamic picture of the pork production chain is needed that includes management practices aimed at health and welfare of swine and practices within swine operations that affect the environment and community health. In light of the threat posed by multidrug-resistant pathogens, old dogma is being revisited with optimism for potential utility in promoting pre- and postharvest pork safety. This review includes possible approaches that can be implemented in swine operations and postslaughter during pork processing with simultaneous omission of subtherapeutic antibiotics to control Salmonella. Researchers emphasize the vital roles of the veterinarians, pig producers, industry, food research scientists, and government guidelines for the strategic implementation of approaches to Salmonella control across the pork production and processing chains.

Experts report progress in food allergy prevention and diet restrictions
14 Nov 2007
American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (ACAAI)
Progress has been made in food allergy prevention and management according to investigators presenting the latest research at the Annual Meeting of the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (ACAAI) in Dallas. According to Robert A. Wood, M.D., professor of pediatrics and international health director, pediatric allergy and immunology at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, research has determined a possible role for allergy prevention strategies. These approaches include maternal food avoidance in pregnancy, breast feeding, maternal food avoidance while breast feeding, use of hypoallergenic formulas, delayed introduction of allergenic foods and probiotics. In addition, Dr. Wood has some recommendations for children at high risk of allergic diseases.
Currently, there is no treatment for food allergies, so allergic individuals must strictly avoid the offending food and its products, and be aware of possible cross-reactivity. In his presentation titled “You Can have Allergy to Food & Eat It Too,” Sami Bahna, M.D., Dr.PH., professor of pediatrics and medicine, and chief of allergy and immunology, Louisiana State University, Shreveport, La., discussed the impact research studies have on dietary restrictions. Some people may have allergy to a food processed in a certain way, but not in another, he said. Manufacturing methods used to reduce allergenicity of proteins include heat treatment, enzymatic hydrolysis, ultra-filtration, high intensity ultrasound, gamma irradiation and combinations of these methods.

Journal of Food Protection publishes two articles on E. coli O157:H7 vaccine efficacy
13 Nov 2007
Newswire Press Release
Two articles have been published in a peer-reviewed journal, the Journal of Food Protection, both in regards to the efficacy of the Company's E. coli O157:H7 cattle vaccine. The two articles relate to field challenge studies conducted at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln involving close to 900 animals in 2002 and 2003. The first article, "Efficacy of dose regimen and observation of herd immunity from a vaccine against Escherichia coli O157:H7 for feedlot cattle" (R.E. Peterson, T.J. Klopfenstein, R.A. Moxley, G.E. Erickson, S. Hinkley, D. Rogan, and D.R. Smith), supports the hypothesis that use of the Bioniche vaccine effectively reduces the likelihood of cattle shedding E. coli O157:H7. The same study noted that there was no indication of affect on (feed conversion) performance or carcass quality, and that vaccinating amajority of cattle within a pen resulted in a significant protective effect to unvaccinated cattle in the same pen. This effect is called "herd immunity". The second article, "Effect of a vaccine product containing type III secreted proteins on the probability of Escherichia coli O157:H7 fecal shedding and mucosal colonization in feedlot cattle" (R.E. Peterson, T.J. Klopfenstein, R.A. Moxley, G.E. Erickson, S. Hinkley, G. Bretschneider, E.M. Berberov, D. Rogan, and D. R. Smith), highlights the results of a study that looked at the effect of vaccination on the shedding of E. coli O157:H7 by cattle and their colonization by the organism. Vaccinated cattle were 98.3% less likely to be colonized by E. coli O157:H7 at the terminal rectum (where the bacteria are known to collect and reproduce in large quantities). Specifically, the authors were able to isolate E. coli

Canada - Prion project to assess risk of game meat consumption
11 Nov 2007
Press Release
An international project with European participation investigating the transmission risk of Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) on humans will receive EUR3.5 million from the Alberta Prion Research Institute (APRI) in Canada. At European level, the study that will involve testing on primates as well as alternative models will be coordinated by the German Primate Centre (DPZ) in Göttingen. Like BSE or Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD), CWD is a transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (TSE) that affects deer, elk and moose. It is caused by proteinaceous infectious particles (prions), infectious agents composed only of protein. Up to 15% of game in North America has been already been infected. Game meat is an important branch of the economy in Canada. Hence, consumers of Canadian game meat products might be at risk of contracting CWD if humans are susceptible. In the framework of the project entitled 'Comprehensive risk assessment of Chronic Wasting Disease transmission of humans using non-human primates', researchers will first extract the prion and then test its effects on primates when either ingested or transmitted in other ways. Moreover, the disease might spread to other animals that are part of the human food chain such as sheep. General project coordination will be in the hands of the Lethbridge Laboratory at the University of Calgary, Canada. Further participants include the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Hamilton, USA, and - in addition to the DPZ - the German Robert Koch Institute, the Technical University of Munich, the neuropathology department of the University Hospital Göttingen and the French Atomic Energy Commission (CEA).

Recovery and transfer of Salmonella typhimurium from four different domestic food contact surfaces
23 Oct 2007
Journal of Food Protection®, Volume 70, Number 10, October 2007 , pp. 2273-2280(8)
Moore, Ginny; Blair, Ian S.; McDowell, David A.
Domestic food contact surfaces can play an important role in the transmission of foodborne disease, yet debate continues as to which surface materials pose the greatest risk to consumer health in terms of cross-contamination during food preparation. Salmonella typhimurium was inoculated onto stainless steel, Formica, polypropylene, or wooden surfaces (25 cm2) in the presence or absence of protein (tryptic soy broth supplemented with 5% horse serum) and held at room temperature. The pathogen was recovered from the test surfaces immediately after inoculation (T = 0) and every hour for up to 6 h, by a conventional microbiological sampling technique and by direct transfer onto a model ready-to-eat food (cucumber slices). The results of this study emphasize that differences, both in recoverability and in the number of bacteria transferred to the model food rather than simply reflecting differences in pathogen survival, may also reflect differences in the ability of the test bacteria to re-mobilize from the different surface types. However, the results also demonstrate a fundamental problem when choosing food contact surfaces, i.e., that those characteristics that make a surface “easy to clean” may also render it more likely to release contaminating pathogens during common food preparation practices.

Incidence and toxin production ability of Escherichia coli O157:H7 isolated from cattle trucks
23 Oct 2007
Journal of Food Protection®, Volume 70, Number 10, October 2007 , pp. 2383-2385(3) Alonso, Cuesta E.P.; Gilliland, S.E.; Krehbiel, C.R.
Twelve cattle trucks were analyzed for the presence of Escherichia coli O157:H7. Three of them had been washed prior to arrival, and the others had not. Seventy-five percent of the trailers were positive for the presence of this foodborne pathogen. A total of 54 cultures were isolated and identified as E. coli O157:H7, all from the trucks that had not been cleaned. Most of the cultures (96.4%) produced Shiga-like toxin (verotoxin). No E. coli O157:H7 was detected in cattle trucks that were cleaned before arrival at the cattle pens. The incidence of E. coli O157:H7 in transport trailers increases the potential risk of contamination of cattle and transmission from farms to feedlots and to packing plants. This contamination increases the potential of contamination of meat during harvest and the risk of foodborne illnesses.

How one bacteria colonizes the gut and causes food poisoning
18 Oct 2007
Journal of Clinical Investigation - Juan Xicohtencatl-Cortes, Valério Monteiro-Neto, Maria A. Ledesma, Dianna M. Jordan, Olivera Francetic, James B. Kaper, José Luis Puente, and Jorge A. Girón
Food poisoning caused by the bacteria enterohemorrhagic Eschericia coli (EHEC) O157:H7A results in severe abdominal cramps and bloody diarrhea. In the very young and old it can also cause hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) -- a disease characterized by anemia and kidney failure. A new study by Jorge Girón and colleagues from the University of Arizona, Tucson, has provided new insight into the mechanisms by which EHEC colonize the intestines, which is essential if strategies to prevent infection by this bacteria are to be developed. The authors determined that EHEC O157:H7 make a number of proteins that come together to form a structure known as an adhesive type IV pilus, which they termed the hemorrhagic coli pilus (HCP). HCP were shown to enable EHEC O157:H7 to adhere to human intestinal epithelial cells in vitro. Furthermore, individuals with HUS, but not individuals who were healthy, were found to mount an immune response to the HCP component Hcp4, indicating that HCPs are produced by the bacteria during infection with EHEC O157:H7.

New model predicts more virulent microbes
17 Oct 2007
New York University Medical Center
Microbes and humans interact in myriad ways, sharing a long history. Many of the most successful microbes are those that inhabit but do not kill their host. A new mathematical model, devised by a microbiologist renowned for his study of H. pylori and a mathematician, provides the framework for understanding how persistent microbes obtain equilibrium with their human hosts. The multi-scale model, published in the October 18, 2007, issue of the journal Nature, is based on the idea that certain microbes and humans evolved together and along the way established complex strategies that enabled them to co-exist. These strategies are contingent in part on human population size. The model helps explain the rules that govern the transmission of microbes and how they have operated in human history, says Martin J. Blaser, M.D., the Frederick King Professor and Chair of the Department of Medicine, and Professor of Microbiology at New York University School of Medicine. He and Denise Kirschner of the University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, are authors of the study. The model uses game theory, developed by Nobel prize-winning mathematician John Nash, to describe a particular type of equilibrium. The model can be used to better understand microbial responses to a changing human world, says Dr. Blaser.