Wild Boars Linked to E. coli Outbreak
Investigators are getting closer to finding out how the E. coli-tainted spinach that sickened over 200 people was contaminated. According to a story in CIDRAP News, a publication out of the University of Minnesota:
Six more samples of the Escherichia coli O157:H7 strain that killed 3 people and sickened more than 200 who ate raw spinach have been found on a ranch in California's Salinas Valley area, state and federal officials announced yesterday.
In a press conference, Kevin Reilly, deputy director of prevention services for the California Department of Health Services, said the newly identified matching samples are from creek water, a wild boar, and four pieces of cow manure. All samples are from the same farm where investigators had already found three manure samples with E coli that matched the outbreak strain, bringing the total to nine.
Health officials are looking at the wild boars as the means by which the E. coli bacteria got from the cow manure to the spinach.