2/22/2005
Sean Carroll
Elmira, NY
A lawsuit has been filed against the Chemung County Health Department. The suit claims the health department failed to act immediately when it learned about a reported case of Hepatitis A. Three men who say they caught Hepatitis A after eating at the Maple Lawn Family Restaurant in the Town…

Ben Fidler
Feb-17-2005
Chi-Chiës Inc. has asked for the court’s approval for a sixth round of settlement payments regarding the hepatitis A outbreak that helped cause its bankruptcy.
In a motion filed Monday with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware in Wilmington, the Tex-Mex requests the ability to pay $1.2 million settle…

Informer
2/17/05
Health Watch
By Ann Almodovor, APRN
Hepatitis A is a very contagious and potentially deadly liver disease caused by a virus. Approximately 1.4 million people worldwide and 143,000 people in the U.S. become infected each year with Hepatitis A. In certain parts of the world, Hepatitis A is more common and a person is more likely to get the disease if traveling or living there.
Hepatitis A is sometimes called a travel disease because it is the most frequently-occurring, vaccine-preventable infection in travelers. Each year 24 million people from the United States visit areas where Hepatitis A is endemic. However, you don’t have to leave the country in order to be exposed to the disease.
Outbreaks in the United States have been associated with contaminated food, infected food handlers and with day-care centers. Not long ago, there was an outbreak linked to consumption of green onions in a chain-restaurant in Pennsylvania that resulted in several deaths. The disease is spread primarily by fecal-oral transmission. This means it can be contracted by ingesting contaminated food, shellfish or water.Continue Reading News: Hepatitis A

February 17, 2005: Health Highlights
Many children at high risk of hepatitis A aren’t being vaccinated for the disease as often as they receive other recommended shots, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports from its first-ever national analysis.
Hepatitis A vaccination rates for children aged 24 months to 35 months varied widely…

February 15, 2005
American Society for Microbiology
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Food in the preharvest stage is more vulnerable to contamination than food in the processing and packaging stages of production, because of environmental variability and our inability to control it, according to a new report released by the American Academy of Microbiology. The report, “Preharvest Food Safety and Security,” points out that recent outbreaks of a number of foodborne illnesses have been linked to contamination occurring in the preharvest stage of food processing. The report recommends creating an accessible international database of genetic sequences for known foodborne pathogens along with new and improved tools for detecting and cataloging pathogens on the farm.
The report is based on the findings of a colloquium convened by the AAM in Perthshire, Scotland, in December 2003. Scientific professionals with expertise in veterinary medicine, agriculture, plant science, food safety, and microbiology met to discuss current practices in preharvest food safety, problems posed by pathogens on the farm, research needs in the field, and communication and education priorities.
“No matter how meticulously food is handled, prepared, or cooked, pathogens acquired during preharvest cannot always be inactivated,” according to Colloquium co-chair, Richard E. Isaacson, PhD, of the University of Minnesota. Many foods have a higher risk because they are consumed raw, as was the case recently in Pennsylvania where 650 fell ill and three died from an outbreak of hepatitis A from contaminated green onions that originated in Mexico.Continue Reading Report Addresses Safety Problem in Preharvest Stage of Food Production

Friday, February 11, 2005
By Ann Pierceall
Herald-Whig Staff Writer
KAHOKA, Mo. — A grant for more than $200,000 will help the Clark County Health Department and Home Health Agency vaccinate hundreds of children against pneumonia, hepatitis A and influenza.
The three-year grant will support a County Health Department project called “Childhood Immunization Program Enhancement.”
Health Department administrator Janet Ramsey said travel distance and costs often stop people from getting all recommended vaccines. The three vaccines are not covered under the state’s Vaccines for Children program, which provides free childhood immunizations for polio, mumps, chicken pox and tetanus.Continue Reading Grant to provide immunizations in Clark

Secure Web-system will help direct state response to biological attacks, reports of emerging infectious diseases
February 9, 2005 — SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Gov. Rod Blagojevich today announced that hospitals, doctors and other health care providers now can electronically report infectious diseases to the state and local health departments as part of a continuing effort to improve the state’s ability to respond to public health emergencies.
“We are committed to strengthening the capacity of our public health system to meet health threats,” the Governor said. “The roll out of this electronic disease reporting system to private health care providers enhances the state’s ability to quickly identify health problems and direct the appropriate response.”
The inclusion of hospitals and other health care providers in the Illinois-National Electronic Disease Surveillance System (I-NEDSS) began this month. The system was initially launched in March 2004 so the state’s 95 local health departments could be efficiently and securely linked through a Web-based computer connection to the Illinois Department of Public Health. Future applications will allow laboratories and others to utilize I-NEDSS.
Chicago also is developing an electronic reporting system with its share of federal bioterrorism funds for the city’s hospitals and health care providers that is not yet ready to go on-line. When Chicago’s system is in place, it will be designed to share data with the state’s I-NEDSS.Continue Reading Illinois Governor Blagojevich Announces Electronic Disease Reporting For Hospitals, Health Care Providers

The Tallahoma News
By Belinda Riddle, UT Extension
February 08, 2005
We’ve all read or heard about safe preparation of meats to avoid food poisoning, particularly ground beef, pork and poultry. According to Ann Draughon, co-director of the University of Tennessee Food Safety Center of Excellence, we should be as careful when preparing fresh fruits and vegetables.
“Most people associate food-borne illness with improperly cooked foods of animal origin, but the fact is, the number of people getting sick from eating fruits and vegetables contaminated with pathogens has doubled since 1990,” says Draughon.
According to the congressional General Accounting Office, an estimated 20 to 25 percent of annual food illness cases are caused by vegetables and fruits. Meat, poultry, pork and eggs still cause about 40 to 45 percent of illnesses. Seafood and cheeses also account for a large percentage of food-borne illnesses.
What is food-borne illness? It is caused by consuming foods or beverages contaminated with disease-causing microbes, called pathogens. Pathogens are poisonous chemicals or other harmful substances that can cause illness if they are present in food and consumed.
Pathogens are varied, and those found in fruits and vegetables have included Escherichia coli 0157:H7 in apple juice, Salmonella on vegetables, and Cyclospora and hepatitis A virus on produce.Continue Reading Cleaned fruits and veggies shouldn’t make you sick