Word: bacterias
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...around the town had been fierce enough in the early part of the year to topple fences erected to keep animals away from the springs. If even a single animal did wander in, any feces it left behind could have been washed into the water supply by spring rains. Bacteria in the feces would have moved through the Alpine pipes in a single foul rush and then drained away. "Once the E. coli hit town it was at once everywhere," Breuer says. And then, just as quickly, it was gone...
...people tested positive for the Alpine bug--19 of whom were hospitalized--and an additional 159 were suspected of being infected, making it the largest waterborne outbreak of O157 in the U.S. So far none of the Alpine victims have died; given the bacteria's low but consistent mortality rate, however, that is as much a stroke of luck as anything else...
...similar good fortune in the future is not the best way to fight the microbe. Until a drug treatment is available, the best answer is prevention, and several groups are taking action. Alfalfa seeds, which have been implicated in past E. coli outbreaks, are now being irradiated to kill bacteria, and last year the Food and Drug Administration gave the cattle industry the green light to treat meat the same way. The procedure is generally effective, but critics are uneasy, questioning whether it's ever a good idea to irradiate something consumers are intended to ingest...
...look after themselves. All fresh vegetables--including packaged, so-called triple-washed vegetables--should be thoroughly cleaned. Steaks can be safely eaten relatively rare, since E. coli is typically found only on the surface of food, and cooking will generally kill it. Hamburger is another matter. Grinding beef distributes bacteria throughout the patty, so the only safe burger is a well-done burger...
...Washington-based science and medicine correspondent, heard about a dangerous E. coli outbreak in a small town in Wyoming and immediately did what federal health sleuths do: headed for the problem's source. His on-the-scene reporting provided a vivid account of the ongoing war against lethal bacteria. Says writer Jeffrey Kluger, who worked from Thompson's dispatches: "I didn't get the sense of experiencing this story secondhand. It was really like being there." Thompson was impressed by the combination of methodology and intuition of state and federal epidemiologists: "They spent hours on the phone tracking down anyone...