Word: coli
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...practicing public health officer, I read with great interest your report on E. coli O157:H7 [KILLER BACTERIA, Aug. 3]. It provided readers with a real-life example of what epidemiologists do to protect the public health and underscored the need for maintaining skills and capabilities as an integral part of the U.S. public health system. All too often shortsighted budget cuts weaken the system's capacity to identify an outbreak quickly and intervene early enough to prevent further spread of an illness. Effective prevention requires some investment, and this is more important than ever with so many newly emerging...
...obvious why E. coli and many other viruses and contaminants are spreading: overpopulation. So long as we humans continue with our thoughtless breeding practices, forests will be cut down, wetlands will be drained and animals will be bred for meat, ensuring a long future of new viruses, bacteria and God knows what else. How much further must we continue down this path of self-destruction before we do something about it? To a point where it's too late? PAUL SINCLAIRE Pleasantville...
...years ago, this company made shipments of unpasteurized apple juice that, unknown to us, contained E. coli O157. Within hours of being notified, we initiated a voluntary recall of all affected products, promptly offered to pay all related medical expenses of those affected and revised our process to pasteurize all apple juice. In structuring the recent $1.5 million strict liability court settlement for unknowingly shipping adulterated juice, we worked hard to direct $250,000 toward further research and consumer awareness of the causes of food-borne disease. We've learned many painful lessons about today's volatile food-safety environment...
...human-to-human infection, common sense is the rule. Hand washing after bathroom trips was a good idea when the fiercest E. coli was ordinary E. coli; with O157 at large, it's even more important. Parents should take similar precautions when changing diapers, and diaper-age babies should not go into swimming pools. Even in wading pools, toddlers should wear a waterproof bathing-suit liner...
DICK THOMPSON, our 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...