Avian influenza H5N1 is a type A bird flu virus, typically, it does not infect people. Human infections have most often happened after close or lengthy unprotected contact with infected birds. The spread of bird flu viruses from one infected person to a close contact is very rare. Six main hemagglutinin (HA) subtypes of bird flu viruses have infected people to cause acute respiratory illness. Among these, H5N1 and H7N9 viruses have caused the majority of infections. The first description of avian influenza dates to 1878 in northern Italy. In 1997 the first human case related to the H5N1 virus...
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Are food outbreaks and recalls rising? It apper as if we hear about new outbreaks very frequently
There has been a barrage of bad news about food safety lately. Ten people died after eating Boar’s Head deli meat connected to a Listeria monocytogenes outbreak and dozens were hospitalized. An E. coli outbreak linked to onions served on McDonald’s Quarter Pounders. A massive egg recall that thickened 93 people with 34 hospitalizations and a large outbreak attributed to Salmonella Typhimurium cucumbers with 100 people sickened. The recalls came one after the other and dominated the news. Data from the CDC shows that the number of outbreaks has increased from last year, but not by much. When a food...
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Southwest Agricultural Region Environmental Microbiology Study on Foodborne Pathogens (2019 – 2024)
In 2019, the FDA and others began a multi-year study in Yuma County, Arizona, to improve understanding of the environmental factors that may impact the presence of foodborne pathogens in the Southwest agricultural region. The goal is to identify new information about factors that significantly contribute to the introduction, persistence, growth, spread, and die-off of pathogens that could contaminate produce before harvest. Airborne transmission of STEC was documented on numerous occasions at several locations adjacent to nearby large livestock. The water quality and the vital role of localized southerly winds in transferring organisms from animal-feeding associated dust in northward directions....
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The source of decade-long Listeria outbreaks was identified as cheeses manufactured by Rizo Lopez Foods
The CDC reported that as of February 8, 2024, 26 people were infected with the outbreak strain of Listeria. 23 were hospitalized, and 2 died. The CDC investigated some outbreaks connected to queso fresco and other similar types of cheese in 2017 and 2021 but did not find sufficient evidence to identify a source of the outbreaks. The breakthrough came in January 2024, when the Hawaii State Department of Health found Listeria monocytogenes in a Rizo Bros Aged Cotija cheese. The FDA reported that WGS of a strain of Listeria monocytogenes from the environment and a sample from cotija cheese...