Outbreaks and Alerts: July 20, 2010

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

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United States

• Juneau, AK. July 15: Four North Pole gardeners are providing samples for a test to determine levels of sulfolane in their plants. The industrial solvent was found in wells near the Flint Hills refinery last fall.
• Spokane, WA. July 18: The bottled-water advisory issued last week for Spokane County Raceway is over.
• Cleveland, OH. July 19: Salmonella has been confirmed as the cause of the gastrointestinal illness that sickened 26 of 42 crew members of the U.S. Flagship Niagara while in Cleveland, according to a Barfblog report.
• Baton Rouge, LA. July 19: Two hundred and ninety oil spill exposure-related cases have been reported to the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals to date. Two hundred and sixteen of those cases involved workers on oil rigs or workers involved in the oil spill clean-up efforts, while 74 were reported by the general public.
• Oregon. July 19: A health advisory prompted by high algae levels found in Fish Lake, located in the Rogue-Umpqua Divide Wilderness, was issued today by Oregon Public Health and Douglas County Health Department officials.

Europe

• Leicester, England. July 20: Two women in Leicester needed hospital treatment after drinking a Gayatri brand aloe vera beverage from India that contained the horse tranquilizer ketamine. One of the women became comatose, but is now recovering in hospital. The other victim was discharged from hospital on Sunday. Authorities have seized the remaining stock of the beverage from the retailer and are investigating the incident.

Asia, Africa and the Pacific Islands

• Ormoc City, Philippines. July 18: Twenty five military trainees from the 802nd Infantry Brigade were rushed to the hospital complaining of stomach pain and diarrhea. Pending confirming lab test results, food poisoning is suspected.
• Abu Dhabi. July 19: Abu Dhabi Food Control Authority has closed down the Qasr al Jabal restaurant (license No. 1019984) located in one of the ADNOC petrol stations in Saih Shuaib. The restaurant was closed down for flouting food safety norms. During the month of June, the Authority closed the African Refreshments (license no.1034352), Food B Restaurant in Reef area (license no. 1049849) and Wahati al Faishawi (license no. 1034352). All three were ordered to close after flouting safety standards despite repeated warnings and fines.
• Hong Kong. July 20: The Centre for Health Protection (CHP) reminds people to observe good personal, food and environmental hygiene to prevent intestinal infection caused by E. coli O157:H7 bacteria. The appeal follows the confirmation by laboratory test of a local case involving a 13-month-old girl living in Yuen Long. This is the fourth case of E. coli O157:H7 infection reported to the CHP this year.
• Ghoda, India. July 20: One more patient succumbed to cholera on Monday taking the toll to five in the last three days. Seventeen more people complained of vomiting and diarrhoea. Villagers claim that the laboratory reports of samples collected from both the wells reveal that water of both the wells is not fit for drinking. However, health officials deny having received any such report.
• Phuket, Thailand. July 20: Some 120 students from Prachanukroh 36 School in Kamala were treated for food poisoning at the local public health clinic on Sunday. Twenty-five of the students were admitted for immediate treatment and 28 more kept in for observation. The rest were allowed to leave. All of the students boarded at the school.