Tennessee E. coli Investigation Diverges
The Tennessee E. coli outbreak that has sickened 11 people in northeast counties of the state appears to be made up of various different strains of E. coli O157:H7 and non-O157 STECs. The investigation continues, but no so far no source to any of the different strains has been discovered.
STEC means shiga toxin-producing E. coli -- the group that can cause severe infection and leads to HUS E. coli in 5 percent to 10 percent of cases. Public health officials have told various news outlets that two HUS cases from Southwest Virginia -- children who were treated in a Northeast Tennessee hospital -- were of a different strain than any of the Tennessee cases. One of those children -- a 2-year-old girl from Dryden, Virginia -- tragically died.
.jpg)
David Kirshke, director of the Northeast Tennessee Regional Health Office, which serves Carter, Greene, Hancock, Hawkins, Johnson, Sullivan, Unicoi and Washington counties, told the Bristol Herald Courier that public health officials are still investigating and haven't given up on trying to find the various sources of the poisonings. Eleven cases of E. coli are typically more cases than Northeast Tennessee sees in an entire year. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta is assisting in the investigation.
Meanwhile, public health reminders are abounding in the region -- including advice to restaurants and home cooks to heat all ground beef products to 160 degrees throughout to kill potential bacteria. E. coli O157:H7 and other STECs originate in the guts of cattle and other animals. The organisms are expelled in feces and become impacted on animal hides. From there the microbes can flake onto meat in the slaughtering process, or E. coli can spread from nicked intestines.
The federal government has banned E. coli O157:H7, in particular, from ground beef and cuts of beef intended for grinding. Despite private and government testing regimes, ground beef E. coli outbreaks still occur and lead to E. coli lawsuits to hold meatpackers accountable for selling product with potentially lethal pathogens.
