E.Coli not only spread by Cattle but also Humans

[Guest guest]

E.Coli is also spread by:

 

consumption of unpasteurized milk and juice, sprouts, lettuce, and

salami. Waterborne transmission occurs through swimming in

contaminated lakes, pools, or drinking inadequately chlorinated

water. Organism is easily transmitted from person to person and has

been difficult to control in child day-care centers.

 

Hence people should wash their hands and food carefully.

[Guest guest]

Dear Irish Veggie & other friends,

 

It is useful, of course, to understand what the various sources of E.coli can

be, but let's not forget that

E.Coli most commonly originates from the intestines of non-human and human

animals. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the presence of

E.coli in water is a strong indication of recent sewage or animal waste

contamination. Through precipitation, E.coli may be washed into creeks,

rivers, streams, lakes, or groundwater. Indeed, the E.coli contamination of

sprouts, lettuce, and apples was linked to livestock waste finding its way into

produce fields.

 

As consumers, it is critical that we understand issues such as washing our hands

thoroughly and so on. However, as vegetarians, I think it should be concerning

(angering?) to us that the safety of our food is significantly compromised as a

result of the questionable farming techniques used in the

meat, dairy, and egg industries (that so many animals are raised in the first

place, close confinement of animals leading to rampant spread of pathogens such

as E.coli, vertical integration of factory farms where massive quantities of

manure are dumped untreated into waterways and the corporate

lords who run the farms are not liable for this pollution).

 

If you read a list published by any of the mainstream health entities or

environmental groups (the EPA, for instance) on how to protect yourself from

E.coli, 90% of the recommendations focus on issues of meat consumption. That is

where the lion's share of contamination originates.

 

Cheers,

Alka

 

 

an_irish_vegetarian [an_irish_vegetarian]

Thursday, August 22, 2002 11:10 AM

 

[sFBAVeg] E.Coli not only spread by Cattle but also Humans

 

 

E.Coli is also spread by:

 

consumption of unpasteurized milk and juice, sprouts, lettuce, and

salami. Waterborne transmission occurs through swimming in

contaminated lakes, pools, or drinking inadequately chlorinated

water. Organism is easily transmitted from person to person and has

been difficult to control in child day-care centers.

 

Hence people should wash their hands and food carefully.

 

 

 

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*Got Questions? We got answers! See the SFBAVeg FAQ at

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[Guest guest]

Better public education on hygiene would probably be better than closing

down the farm, although finding out why the cattle were infected in the

first place would be the best solution.

 

FARM ANIMALS POSE E. COLI THREAT TO KIDS - STUDY

Aug. 21/02

Reuters

By Gene Emery

 

BOSTON - Researchers were cited as reporting in Thursday's New England

Journal of Medicine that children who have contact with farm animals run the

risk of being infected by a deadly E. coli bacteria if they do not wash

their hands before eating.

 

The story says that medical detectives reached the conclusion after

studying an outbreak of E. coli illness among preschoolers who visited a

Pennsylvania farm. Tainted food and water are seen as the usual causes of E.

coli O157:H7 infection, which each year kills about 60 Americans and sickens

more than 70,000.

 

However, there is concern that contact with animals such as cattle, which

are known to harbor the bacteria, may cause people to develop the bloody

diarrhea, fever, and vomiting that are common symptoms of the infection.

The story says that the new study began after 16 people fell ill in the

autumn of 2000, most of them after visiting a petting farm that housed cows,

sheep, goats, pigs and llamas.

 

The investigators, led by John A. Crump of the Centers for Disease Control

and Prevention in Atlanta, ultimately identified 15 confirmed cases and 36

suspected cases of infection. They also discovered that 15 percent of the

216 cattle were infected with E. coli, a rate up to 30 times higher than

usual. In addition, most of the E. coli had the same genetic fingerprint as

the strain that made the children ill. Once the farm was closed to the

public on Nov. 4, no new cases were reported.

 

The Crump team found that people who became sick were more likely to have

had more contact with the animals, and that people who tended to bite their

nails or purchased food or drink from the outdoor concession stand faced a

higher risk of infection, unless they had washed their hands. Hand washing,

supervised contact with animals " and clear separation of food-related

activities from areas housing animals " would reduce the risk for visitors

interested in experiencing farm life, the researchers said.

 

In an editorial published in the journal, Sarah O'Brien and Goutam Adak of

the Public Health Laboratory Service Communicable Disease Surveillance

Center in London called the finding another milestone in the understanding

of E. coli O157:H7.