State Lab Improves Foodborne Illness Surveillance

Maine CDC's Health and Environmental Testing Laboratory (HETL) is a member of PulseNet, a national laboratory network that connects foodborne illness cases to detect outbreaks from people eating contaminated food. Since the network began in 1996, PulseNet has improved food safety systems in Maine by identifying outbreaks early and identifying the source of the contaminated food. This network is changing the test methods used to identify outbreaks. 

Through two U.S. CDC grants, the HETL has been able to upgrade its equipment and protocols to allow for the lab to conduct this next-generation DNA fingerprinting, known as ‘whole genome sequencing.’  This method allows the HETL to increase surveillance of antibiotic and antiviral resistance mechanisms, identify rare bacteria and viruses and increase foodborne illness surveillance.  

3 Reasons to Teach Kids Food Safety

Here are 3 very important reasons for doing more, right now, to teach kids about safe food handling:

  

1. US CDC estimates nearly half of all reported foodborne infections occur in children under 15 years of age.
2. The long-term effects of foodborne illness in young children can be serious, including impaired brain development, kidney failure, or even death.
3. Children under 9 account for 56% of hospitalizations from salmonellosis and campylobacteriosis - the two most common causes of foodborne illness.

Engage kids early, so they develop safe food handling practices they will use for life. Visit http://www.fightbac.org/kids for access to free resources you can use to teach kids food safety.

Worried about E. coli and other foodborne illness?

US CDC’s Vital Signs for June focuses on foodborne illness. Each year, roughly 1 in 6 people in the US gets sick from eating contaminated food. The 1,000 or more reported outbreaks that happen each year reveal familiar culprits—Salmonella and other common germs. We know that reducing contamination works. During the past 15 years, a dangerous type of E. coli infection, responsible for the recall of millions of pounds of ground beef, has been cut almost in half.

For more information on Vital Signs, see this MMWR.

A large outbreak of shiga toxin-producing E. coli O104 is occurring in Germany, with cases identified in travelers to Germany. This strain of E. coli is very rare and has not been seen in the United States prior to this outbreak.

Maine CDC issued a Health Alert on Monday, asking health care providers to report any suspect cases of STEC in Maine residents with a history of travel to Germany immediately to our disease reporting line: 1-800-821-5821.

US CDC has issued the following travel notice: http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/notices/outbreak-notice/2011-germany-europe-e-coli.htm?source=govdelivery

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is posting related updates at: http://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/PressAnnouncements/ucm257814.htm