Download Juice tainted by a harmful bacteria sickens kids

Juice tainted by a harmful bacteria sickens kids
Christy Gimmestad thought she was only doing what was best for her 16-monthold daughter, Anna, when she gave Anna a drink of bottled apple juice last
October. Gimmestad knew the juice was rich in vitamins and other nutrients.
What she didn't know was that the juice was contaminated with harmful
Escherichia coli (E. coli) bacteria. Within days, Anna was seriously ill. Three
weeks later, she died.
At least 60 other people in the western United States and Canada are believed to
have gotten sick from drinking apple juice from the same tainted batch. Those
illnesses were only the latest of several hundred outbreaks caused by E. coli
bacteria in this country during the last ten years, according to the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Our Friend: E. Coli
E. coli bacteria, which claim an average of 250 lives a year, have become a
menace in the minds of countless Americans. So you may be surprised to learn
that millions of E. coli bacteria populate the human gut-yours and everyone
else's.
Most E. coli bacteria don't hurt people, say scientists. In fact, E. coli are beneficial
because they crowd out more dangerous bacteria.
E. coli bacteria, say scientists, are the most studied microbes in nature. What
scientists didn't know about the bacteria until fairly recently was the existence of
a bad type, or strain, of E. coli. Exposure to this bad strain, which scientists
named E. coli 0157:H7, comes mostly from ingesting tainted beef and,
sometimes, tainted fruits and vegetables.
Kidney Damage
Bacteria from the E. coli 0157:H7 strain make a toxin that damages the large
intestine, says Gary Lum, chief of the kidney center at the Children's Hospital in
Denver, where Anna Gimmestad was treated. The large intestine bleeds, and the
victim experiences stomach pains, vomiting, and bloody diarrhea.
In a small percentage of cases, patients also develop hemolytic uremic syndrome
(HUS), says Lum. HUS occurs when the E. coli toxin enters the patient's
bloodstream through the damaged intestinal wall. Once in the blood, the toxin
also damages the body's small blood vessels, especially those in the kidneys.
The kidneys lose their ability to cleanse the blood of waste products, which build
up in the body to a harmful degree. Patients with HUS are given hemodialysis-a
blood-cleansing treatment.
In the most severe cases, like Anna Gimmestad's, the toxin also damages small
blood vessels in the brain, says Lum. That damage can disable the brain to the
point where it can no longer regulate the normal workings of the human body.
Tainted Beef
E. coli 0157:H7 make their usual home in the guts of cattle, which regularly expel
some of the bacteria in their feces. Beef becomes contaminated, say scientists, if
slaughterhouses are unsanitary and meat comes into contact with cow feces.
Four years ago, 700 people became sick and four died after eating contaminated
hamburgers sold by a fast-food chain in several western states. The tainted beef
had not been cooked thoroughly enough to kill the bacteria in it.
Scientists say apple and other fruit juices can become contaminated with E. coli
0157:H7 if the fruit has been picked up off the ground. Fruit sometimes lands in
cow manure used as fertilizer or in the feces of cattle that have been grazing in
an orchard.
Not all fruit juice makers pasteurize their products. Pasteurization is a heating
process that kills disease causing bacteria. The E. coli that killed Anna
Gimmestad were present m bottles of unpasteurized apple juice.
New Regulations
To combat E. coli and other types of poisoning, the U.S. Department of
Agriculture (USDA) recently issued stricter regulations for the meat industry. The
new rules require that meat be processed in ways that assure the elimination of
all harmful microbes. The old system, which existed for 90 years, required that
meat simply be inspected for visible signs of improper handling and
contamination, such as dirt, sawdust, or slime on the meat.
The USDA is considering making the pasteurization of apple juice mandatory.
Scientists have also been informing the public how to make sure that the food
they eat is free of bacterial impurities. (See "Before You Bite.")
"People shouldn't be afraid to eat hamburger," says the CDC's Dr. Patricia Griffin.
"If you're served undercooked hamburger in a restaurant, send it back for more
cooking."
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By Hugh Westrup
Source: Current Science, 3/7/97, Vol. 82 Issue 12, p10, 2p