Push In Food Poisoning For Better Tracking
Health officials from the Food and Drug Administration and USDA will hold a public hearing next month to search for ways to better trace food poisoning to its original source.
Better tracking mechanisms also are included in pending food safety legislation in Congress and for good reason: In nearly 60 percent of food poisoning outbreaks, a source of the pathogen is never found and the illness remains a public health mystery, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)..jpg)
The problem was highlighted today in a story by reporter Steve Mills of the Chicago Tribune. He traced the personal battle fought last year by the family of 10-year-old Jack Gillett of Rockford, Illinois.
The boy was diagnosed with an E. coli O157:H7 infection that progressed into HUS, or hemolytic uremic syndrome after returning from a family car trip to Kentucky. They ate at numerous restaurants along the way and have not been able to pin down the cause of Jack's illness.
Over the course of three weeks in two hospitals, Jack had 13 dialysis treatments and six blood transfusions, according to his mother and the medical records she maintained.
From stool samples, microbiologists are able to obtain the genetic fingerprint of pathogens that make people sick. But in one-off cases where there isn't an outbreak involving lots of victims, it is extremely difficult to identify the source of contaminated food. In the case of tracking E. coli , part of the problem is that the onset of serious illness can occur four days after contaminated food is ingested.
But scientists and food safety advocates believe that faster and better communication systems between hospitals and local and state health departments can improve detection of the food source. When there is any grouping of patients infected by the same strains of a pathogen, investigators can conduct fast-response epidemiological studies that can solve the mystery of what food is to blame. They do that through scientific questionning of patients to find common exposures.
For obvious reasons, a breakthrough in detection of outbreak sources would make a huge difference in helping to prevent outbreaks and keep people healthy. Businesses that profit from food would presumably be more careful to avoid the liability.
If you or a loved one has been sickened by food poisoning and have legal questions about your rights to make a recovery from the restaurant, meatpacker, corporate farm, packaged food company, insurance company, grocery store or others who may be responsible, call national food safety law firm Pritzker Olsen Attorneys at 1-888-377-8900 (Toll Free) or complete our online contact and information form on the right side of this web page. A food poisoning lawyer will provide you with a free case consultation. We are one of the few law firms in the country practicing extensively in the area of foodborne illness litigation.
