Outbreaks and Alerts: June 10, 2010

A daily digest of international outbreaks, alerts and food safety news

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United States

• Alabama. June 9: The Alabama Department of Public Health has expanded advisories due to the increased presence of oil in coastal areas. Public Health is posting advisories not to swim in Bayou St. John, Terry Cove, Cotton Bayou, Old River or in Alabama waters west of the Dauphin Island Bridge, also known as Mississippi Sound.
• Walla Walla County, WA. June 9: Residents served by Green Tank have been instructed to boil their tap water or buy bottled water until further notice after E. coli bacteria were detected in the water supply.
• Tallahassee, FL. June 9: The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services has implemented a new toll-free hotline at 1-800-357-4273 to provide consumers with current information about the status of Florida’s open and closed fishing harvest areas, the availability of seafood varieties, and general pricing information.
• Pueblo, CO. June 9: The Pueblo City-County Health Department announced that transmission of hepatitis A may have occurred on May 31, 2010, at Desert Hawk at Pueblo West golf course. People who had ice, cold drinks with ice, or cut fruit on May 31, 2010 at Desert Hawk at Pueblo West golf course may be at risk for developing hepatitis A, and should receive an injection of hepatitis A vaccine or gamma globulin no later than June 11.
• Kansas City, MO. June 9: EPA Region 7 has taken a series of civil enforcement actions against three beef feedlot operations in Iowa for violations of the Clean Water Act, as part of a continuing enforcement emphasis aimed at ending harmful discharges of pollutants from concentrated animal feeding operations ( CAFOs ) into the region’s rivers and streams. In some cases, E. coli was found in the wastewater from the feedlot operations.
• Washington, DC. June 10: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is ending all uses of the insecticide endosulfan in the United States. Endosulfan, which is used on vegetables, fruits, and cotton, can pose unacceptable neurological and reproductive risks to farmworkers and wildlife and can persist in the environment.
• Springfield, IL. June 10: The Subway Salmonella Hvittingfoss outbreak has grown to 71 confirmed cases in 22 counties.
• Owensboro, KY. June 10: More than 80 people in Daviess County have contracted shigellosis and three children have been hospitalized with symptoms of watery diarrhea. Test results indicate that the outbreak is not due either to contaminated food or to contaminated water.

Canada

• Sarnia, ON. June 9: The County of Lambton Community Health Services Department continues to investigate an outbreak of Cyclospora infection in people who attended the Big Sisters of Sarnia-Lambton Chef's Challenge on May 12, 2010. Lab tests have confirmed the illness in 40 attendees; at least 193 people have reported symptoms consisent with Cyclospora infection. The County is being assisted in the outbreak investigation by the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care, Public Health Agency of Canada, and Canadian Food Inspection Agency.

Europe

• Moscow, Russia. June 10: A woman and her 10-month old baby have been diagnosed with cholera after arriving from India. Health authorities assure the public that there is no evidence that the infection has been spread to others.
• Copenhagen, Denmark. June 10:
  The World Health Organization and Denmark's Statens Serum Institut report an upsurge of Salmonella Concord infections among Ethiopian adoptees in Denmark in 2009.

Asia, Africa and the Pacific Islands

• Damascus, Syria. June 10: Syria has temporarily banned the import of bovine meat from India due to quality issues.
• Nepal. June 10: The Epidemiology and Disease Control Division (EDCD) of Nepal's Department of Health Services has registered 21 deaths and 609 cases of diarrhea during the period of May 27 through June 9, 2010.
• Hong Kong. June 10: The Centre for Health Protection (CHP) of the Department of Health isinvestigating a case of cholera in an eight months old girl who developed fever and watery diarrhoea on May 23 this year while she was in India. The child is being treated in isolation in Princess Margaret Hospital and is in a stable condition.
• Taipei, Taiwan. June 10: The Consumers' Foundation said that 25 percent of the bean curd products it inspected recently contained enough benzoic acid and other chemicals to cause liver damage or stomach cancer.

Australia and New Zealand

• Canberra, Australia. June 10: A Canberra woman reported finding a 3-centimeter bolt in a meusli bar.

Latin America and the Caribbean

• Tamaulipas, Mexico. June 10: Up to 300 children a day are arriving to the Children's Hospital with gastroenteritis or dehydration problems as a result of the high temperatures in recent days have reached 42 degrees Celsius.