Outbreaks and Alerts: October 4, 2010

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

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United States

• Sedan, KS. October 1st: A Boil Water Advisory has been issued for the City of Sedan in Chautauqua County, due to a number of water main breaks.

Canada

• Winnipeg, MB. September 29th: The Winnipeg Health Region has concluded that fruit compote may be the most likely culprit behind an outbreak of E. coli O157 among visitors to the Russian pavilion at Folklorama in August.

Europe

• Jurmala, Latvia. October 3rd: Twenty kindergarten children were infected by Salmonella. An inspection of the kindergarten kitchen revealed serious deviations from standard rules of hygiene. In addition, Salmonella was detected in one of the kitchen workers. The kindergarten was fined 20 lats - one for each sick child.

Asia, Africa and the Pacific Islands

• Raipur, India, October 2nd: More than 200 workers for a road construction workers became ill after eating at a company canteen, and were taken to hospital. As many as 30 of them are reported in critical condition.
• Gaza City, Gaza. October 3rd: Forty students from the Abdul Malik Ibn Marwan School were taken to hospital after complaining of nausea. It is believed that the children became ill after eating milk and biscuits distributed by the World Food Programme in coordination with the Gaza Ministry of Education.
• Papa, Papua New Guinea. October 3rd: The district's Cholera Treatment Center is seeing five to six severe new suspected cases of cholera on a daily basis. The treatment center has only six beds to accommodate severely ill patients.
• Srinagar, India. October 4th: Recent flash floods and heavy rains in Jammu and Kashmir have triggered outbreaks of diarrhea and cholera in at least seven districts. More than 7,600 people have been taken ill.

Australia and New Zealand

• Otago-Southland, New Zealand. October 4th: Health authorities are reporting an increase in stomach diseases in the area and are warning farmers to be careful when handling newborn lambs and calves.