EFSA Evaluates the Public Health Risk of Bacterial Strains Resistant to Certain Antimicrobials in Food and Food-producing Animals

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has published an assessment on the potential contribution of food and food-producing animals to the public health risks posed by bacteria that produce enzymes that makes them resistant to treatments with broad spectrum beta-lactams[1]. EFSA’s Panel on Biological Hazards (BIOHAZ Panel) concludes that the use of antimicrobials in food-producing animals is a risk factor for the spread of these bacterial strains. The experts recommend that decreasing the overall use of antimicrobials in food- producing animals in the European Union (EU) should be a priority in terms of limiting the risk to public health arising from resistance in the food chain and that an effective option would be to restrict or stop the use of cephalosporins in the treatment of food-producing animals.

image coutesy of: diseasepicture.com

Anthrax Attack Threat Persists, DHS Says

Wednesday, May 18, 2011The U.S. government must remain poised to deal with another attack involving anthrax, a senior Homeland Security Department official warned last week (seeGSN, May 9).The U.S. government must remain poised to deal with another attack involving anthrax, a senior Homeland Security Department official warned last week (seeGSN, May 9).The U.S. government must remain poised to deal with another attack involving anthrax, a senior Homeland Security Department official warned last week (seeGSN, May 9).

"The threat of an attack using a biological agent is real and requires that we remain vigilant. A wide-area attack using aerosolized Bacillus anthracis, the bacteria that causes anthrax, is one of the most serious mass casualty biological threats facing the U.S.," DHS chief medical officer Alexander Garza said during a May 12 hearing of the House Homeland Security emergency preparedness subcommittee.

Five people died and more were made sick by the 2001 anthrax mailings. The FBI years later identified Army scientist Bruce Ivins as the perpetrator, but the microbiologist committed suicide before charges were filed (see GSN, April 21).

"An anthrax attack could potentially encompass hundreds of square miles, expose hundreds of thousands of people, and cause illness, death, fear, societal disruption and economic damage," Garza said. "If untreated, the disease is nearly 100 percent fatal, which means that those exposed must receive life-saving [medical countermeasures] as soon as possible."  Full article

Food Safety > Four Deaths in E. coli O111 Outbreak in Japan

The Japanese have already gone thru soooo much...

An outbreak of E. coli O111 in central Japan has killed two children and two adults and sickened at least 56 other people, according to news reports this week. 

The infections have been linked to a Korean raw beef dish called yukhoe, similar to tartare, served at a chain of barbecue restaurants. 

According to media reports, one boy, a preschooler, was hospitalized April 21 and died six days later in Fukui Prefecture, while the second boy, age 6, became ill on April 24 and died April 29 in Tonami, Toyama Prefecture.  Read more