Tag Archives: Disease

Boston College Students Fall Ill, Investigators Probe Link to Chipotle E. Coli Outbreak

Investigators were reportedly trying to determine if the illnesses that several Boston College students reported after eating at a Chipotle were tied to an E. Coli outbreak at the restaurant.

The Boston Herald, quoting a statement from a school spokesman, reported Monday that “several” Boston College students complained of gastrointestinal symptoms after eating at a Chipotle restaurant. The newspaper reported the state’s Department of Public Health was notified and was examining whether the illnesses were linked to Chipotle’s recent E. Coli scare.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 52 people in nine states have come down with one particular type of E. Coli since October. The CDC said that 47 of those people said they ate at a Chipotle restaurant in the week leading up to the onset of their illness.

In a statement to Reuters, a Chipotle spokesman said there wasn’t any evidence that the Boston College illnesses were related to the E. Coli outbreak. The spokesman said in the statement that there have not been any confirmed cases of the illness linked to Chipotle in Massachusetts.

Still, Boston television station WCVB reported that the Chipotle restaurant where the Boston College students ate was closed pending an investigation from Boston Inspectional Services. The television station placed the number of students who fell ill after eating at Chipotle at 30.

According to the CDC, there have been documented cases of the Chipotle-linked E. Coli strain in Washington, Oregon, California, Minnesota, Illinois, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York and Maryland. The CDC said 20 people were hospitalized, but there were no reports of any deaths.

There were 40 cases in Washington (27) and Oregon (13), the CDC reported, and Chipotle voluntarily closed all of its 43 restaurants in the Seattle and Portland, Oregon, markets after the outbreaks were first reported. The company said all of those restaurants have since reopened.

It’s still not known what particular food item is responsible for the outbreak. Chipotle said in a news release on Friday that it has increased food safety practices since the outbreak first began.

The company’s stocks were trading at $750.42 in mid-October, which was near an all-time high. They have fallen more than $200 in the weeks since and were trading at $544.51 early Tuesday.

E. Coli symptoms include diarrhea and abdominal cramps. The disease can sometimes lead to kidney failure, but there haven’t been any reported cases in the outbreak.

The E. Coli outbreak linked to Chipotle restaurants deals with a different type of the bacteria than the one that has been connected to a rotisserie chicken salad sold in Costco stores.

CDC Reports Rise in Rabbit Fever

United States health officials are working to find out what’s behind a rise in cases of rabbit fever.

The rare disease is also known as tularemia and can be life-threatening, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The organization said Thursday that there are usually only 125 cases of the disease in the United States every year, but there were 100 in just four states as of September 30. There has now been 235 total cases, the Associated Press reported.

According to the CDC, the disease is caused by a bacteria to which rabbits and other kinds of small rodents are easily susceptible. Humans can contract the disease through tick bites, handling animals that have been infected or by breathing in the infectious bacteria.

The CDC says the disease can lead to a variety of symptoms, depending on the bacteria enters the human body. The most serious infections occur when the bacteria spreads into the lungs, either directly via breathing or through the bloodstream after leaving an infection untreated.

The disease is treated through antibiotics and most patients have full recoveries, according to the CDC. But its symptoms (which can include fever, joint and muscle pain, difficulty breathing and vomiting) may make it hard to diagnose, as it can be mistaken for more common illnesses.

An 85-year-old man died and at least 48 people were hospitalized this year, the CDC said.

The CDC report says it’s not clear what is behind the increase in cases, particularly in the four-state region of Wyoming, Colorado, Nebraska and South Dakota where there were the 100 documented cases through the end of September. A possible explanation is that heavy rainfall there fostered vegetation growth and bacteria survival, as well as increased rodent populations.

While it’s not explicitly mentioned as a potential cause in the report released Thursday, the CDC website does list tularemia as a potential weapon that could be used in bioterrorism attacks. The website notes the bacteria is highly infections and can be transmitted through the air.

The CDC encourages people to wear insect repellent and use gloves when handling dead animals to help prevent infection.

Recalled vegetables linked to E. Coli outbreak at Costco stores

A tainted mix of celery and onions appears to be at fault for a multi-state E. Coli outbreak.

Taylor Farms Pacific recalled a list of products on Thursday after a link to the outbreak tied to Costco stores was discovered, according to a notice on the Food & Drug Administration website.

The California-based manufacturer produced a diced-vegetable mix that tested positive for E. Coli, according to the posting. It was used in a rotisserie chicken salad that was sold at Costco.

The vast majority of the 19 people infected with the bacteria reported buying or eating the salad before they got sick, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Infections have been reported in Montana, Utah, California, Washington, Colorado, Missouri and Virginia.

The recall is being conducted “out of an abundance of caution,” according to the FDA.

Costco has stopped selling and producing the salad, the CDC noted. It encourages anyone who bought the product to throw it out, even if some has been eaten and no one has fallen ill.

The particular strain of E. Coli bacteria associated with the Costco outbreak is known to be deadly.

Reuters reported it’s the same one to blame for the 1993 outbreak at Jack in the Box restaurants. Four children died and hundreds more became sick after eating undercooked hamburgers.

No deaths have been reported this time, but the CDC says five people have been hospitalized and two people have developed a type of kidney failure called hemolytic uremic syndrome.

Some Antibiotics to Blame for Turning MRSA into a “Superbug”

According to a recent study published in Cell Host & Microbe, the first antibiotics used to usually treat MRSA could actually make the skin infection worse by triggering the body’s pathogen defense system.

The bacterium Staphylococcus aureus – also known as a “staph infection” – is carried on the skin or in the nose of most healthy people. Nature World Report states that 25% of the population is colonized with staph, but only 1% of the population is colonized with MRSA. MRSA is a form of Staphylococcus aureus, but it is resistant to methicillin along with other medicines.

“Individuals infected with MRSA who receive a beta-lactam antibiotic–one of the most common types of antibiotics–could end up being sicker than if they received no treatment at all,” George Liu of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and co-senior study author said in a press release.

“Our findings underscore the urgent need to improve awareness of MRSA and rapidly diagnose these infections to avoid prescribing antibiotics that could put patients’ lives at risk,” he added.

Tech Times reports that the study showed that MRSA not only responds to beta-lactam antibiotics, but it will also adapt to them, which makes the disease stronger. The antibiotics weaken the bacteria’s enzymes that produces cell walls. However, the study found that some antibiotics were less effective, allowing the bacteria to rebuild a weaker cell wall. When this happens, the body’s immune system goes into overdrive, trying to destroy the weak cell wall, according to the Huffington Post.

“In situations where there is a lot of infection, this highly aggressive response can cause extensive inflammation and tissue damage, effectively making the consequences of the infection worse,” Liu said.

The challenge for physicians lies in prescribing the right antibiotics for people who have staph infections, or worse, MRSA. It can take a few days to determine if a specific antibiotic is going to make the infection worse.

And while the study did find these disturbing results, the researchers only performed these tests on rats. They say that they will need to conduct trials on humans before they can nail down the correct antibiotics to use in the treatment of staph and MRSA.

Brazil Man Tested for Ebola; Others Under Observation

A Brazilian man who visited Guinea is being tested for Ebola, Brazil’s Health Minister Marcelo Castro said on Wednesday.

The 46-year-old man arrived in Brazil on Nov. 6 and developed high fever with muscle pains and headaches two days later, he said. Officials declined to provide the man’s name.

After going to the emergency health clinic in Minas Gerais he was transferred to an infectious disease hospital in Rio de Janeiro. The Unit at Minas Gerais was shut down as a preventive measure.  

According to Reuters, Guinea is one of three impoverished West African countries, along with Liberia and Sierra Leone, that have suffered with the most deadly outbreak of the Ebola virus in recent years.

As a precaution and medical workers or other patients who had contact with the man are being monitored by health officials.  Brazil immediately informed international health authorities of the suspected case.

Scarlet Fever Making a Comeback and May Now Resist Antibiotics

After nearly 100 years, the bacterial infection, scarlet fever, has made a comeback in Britain and in parts of Asia. And to make matters worse, it may no longer be an easy treatable infection as new research suggests that the infection is showing signs of antibiotic resistance.

“We have not yet had an outbreak in Australia, but over the past five years there have been more than 5,000 cases in Hong Kong (a 10-fold increase) and more than 100,000 cases in China,” said Mark Walker, one of the researchers, in a news release. “And an outbreak in the UK has resulted in 12,000 cases since last year.

The Washington Post reports that scarlet fever is caused by a group of A Streptococcus bacteria that can turn strep throat into scarlet fever. Most people who are affected are children between the ages of 5 and 12. The disease develops a red, sandpaper-like rash on the person’s body, and while it’s unpleasant, it can easily be treated with antibiotics. There is currently no vaccine.

“We now have a situation which may change the nature of the disease and make it resistant to broad-spectrum treatments normally prescribed for respiratory tract infections, such as scarlet fever,” said Nouri Ben Zakour, one of the researchers.

The idea that this new outbreak of scarlet fever could easily be treated was rethought when researches from the University of Queensland discovered that the new scarlet fever cases were resisting antibiotics. While penicillin is still effective, other treatments such as tetracycline, clindamycin, and erythromycin may not be, which poses an immediate threat to people who are allergic to penicillin.

The rise in scarlet fever could pre-empt a future rise in rheumatic heart disease, which causes permanent heart damage. Knowing this, researchers hope to continue studying the patterns of the disease and the effects it has on a person’s health, according to Science World Report.

28 Californians and Millions of Birds Killed by West Nile Virus

A study, released Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences has found that the West Nile virus is annihilating the native bird population in the United States. The study looked at the impact of the virus on 49 species from information collected at over 500 bird banding stations across the U.S. from 1992 to 2007.
UCLA’s Ryan Harrigan and his colleagues found significant declines in survival rates associated with West Nile virus for 23 out of 49 of the species examined.

Millions of birds can die in a single year when West Nile hits species with large populations. Among the estimated 130 million red-eyed vireos in the United States, researchers believe the virus killed 29 percent, or more than 37 million.

West Nile, a mosquito-borne virus, was introduced in North America in 1989. It has drawn the most attention for its impact on humans, with 1 in 5 people who are infected developing a fever with other symptoms, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. In rare cases, people develop a serious, sometimes fatal, neurologic illness.

According to the CDC, West Nile Virus which originated in birds, then spread to mammals and then humans killed 85 people last year with 2,122 cases reported. So far, 63 deaths have been reported, 28 in California alone, with 1,197 cases reported in the United States. The first deaths from West Nile Virus were reported in 1999.

The most deaths were reported in 2012 with 5674 cases reported and 286 deaths.

State Officials Report: Oregon Teen Girl has Bubonic Plague

Oregon health officials state that a 16-year-old girl in Crook County has been diagnosed with the bubonic plague.

According to USA Today, the teen is currently in an intensive care at a local hospital and her status isn’t known at this time. The Oregon Health Authority believes the girl contracted the disease via flea bite while she was on a hunting trip. So far, no one else in Crook County has been infected with the plague.

“Many people think of the plague as a disease of the past, but it’s still very much present in our environment, particularly among wildlife,” state public health veterinarian Emilio DeBess told KGW. “Fortunately, plague remains a rare disease, but people need to take appropriate precautions with wildlife and their pets to keep it that way.”

Federal and state health officials are working with local authorities to investigate the disease.

The Bubonic plague is the disease heard of during the medieval times that wiped out the majority of the population, however, it is rare today. CBS News reports that there is an average of seven human plague cases a year. In Oregon, there have only been eight human cases since 1995 with no reported deaths.

If caught early enough, the plague can be treated with antibiotics. There is currently no vaccine for the plague.

Ebola Can Persist in Survivors

Science has discovered a new and scary fact about ebola: it can survive in body parts such as eyes, breasts, and testicles long after leaving the blood stream, making scientists wonder if the disease can even be beaten.

People who contract and supposedly beat the disease can suffer from complications that lead to “post-Ebola syndrome.” This is the case with the recent reported incident with a Scottish nurse, Pauline Cafferkey. Cafferkey recovered from Ebola last year, but is now in “serious condition.” She has been admitted to an isolation unit in London.

Dr. Ben Neuman, a virologist from the University of Reading, told the BBC that the outlook for Cafferkey is good.

“The odds are that she has actually inherited a lucky set of genes and these are probably what protected her the first time and probably what will keep her safe the second time regardless of any treatment. The outlook’s good,” Neuman said.

Post-Ebola syndrome can cause serious health problems, particularly to eyes and joints, according to Neuman.

“The newly discovered twist on this post-Ebola syndrome is that in some cases the health problems – often including damage to the eyes and joints – are caused by live Ebola virus growing in fluids in some of the less accessible compartments of the body,” he added.

Meanwhile in Nigeria, ten people have been quarantined after coming into contact with a person who showed Ebola-like symptoms, a year after the country declared it was Ebola free. Local media states the patient has since died, but no official confirmation has been given.

Ebola is one of the deadliest diseases known to humans. It infected 28,000 people and killed more than 11,300 people in the unprecedented outbreak in West Africa that was declared in March 2014.

Legionnaires’ Disease Closes Three Chicago-Area Schools

Students were sent home and three schools were closed when higher than normal amounts of Legionella, the bacteria that causes Legionnaires’ disease, were found in cooling towers.

The schools were located in the U-46 school district, located 45 miles northeast of Chicago. Officials found the high level of bacteria during an annual air quality check.

The district stated in an alert on their website: “While risk of exposure to the bacteria was low, we decided, in consultation with the Kane County Health Department, to evacuate staff and students to safe locations as a precaution.”

Reuters reported that the district was properly cleaning and sanitizing all 19 water cooling towers. So far, there have been no reports of anyone within the schools contracting Legionnaires’ disease.

Illinois has been concerned with the disease after 12 residents of a western Illinois veteran home died of Legionnaires’ last month. USA Today reports that dozens of home residents have contracted the disease. Legionnaires’ also infected 119 people and killed 12 in the New York City Outbreak earlier this year.

Legionnaires’ disease is a pneumonia-like disease that is caused by inhaling bacteria infected vapor. The vapor can come from air conditioners, showers, or hot tubs. The disease can lead to kidney failure, respiratory failure, and septic shock. Most people recover, but the CDC reports that 5% to 30% who contract the disease will die. It cannot be transmitted between people.