The potentially dangerous food poisoning infection E. coli appears to be sweeping across areas of Canada with the number of suspected cases linked to an outbreak in Burlington, Ontario increasing yesterday.  A restaurant near Niagara is readying to reopen today following its closure over a similar outbreak last month.

Yesterday, the Halton Region Health Department said officials were investigating 43 suspected E. coli cases.  Just Monday, the figure was at 28.  The outbreak appears to have originated from the Johnathan’s Family Restaurant in Burlington.  To date, three of the 48 cases are confirmed to be E. coli strain O157:H7.  Also, the “molecular fingerprint” from the Burlington outbreak matches those in Niagara, in which 47 suspected cases led to the closure of two restaurants.  Twelve of the 47 suspected cases there have since been confirmed.  Both M.T. Bellies restaurant in Welland, Ontario and the Little Red Rooster restaurant in Niagara-on-the-Lake have been linked to 21 cases each of suspected E. coli infection.  The remaining five suspected cases have not yet been linked to any food establishment. (more…)

The Oklahoma State Department of Health (OSDH) is reporting that it is looking to interview over 300 people who ate at the Country Cottage restaurant in Locust Grove.  The 300 people sought for interviews ate at Country Cottage but did not become ill during the recent and massive E. coli outbreak.  “In our efforts to establish if there is an association with particular food items and illness, we will be interviewing more persons to find those who ate at the Country Cottage and did not become ill,” said State Epidemiologist Kristy Bradley.  Over 200 people became sick and one person has died as a result of the rare E. coli O111 outbreak.

Bradley also said, “In an investigation of this scope, it is as important to collect information on those who did not get sick as those who did become ill.  We’ve determined that our statistical database does not adequately represent those who ate at the Country Cottage but did not become ill.”  Bradley indicated that state health officials have identified about 320 persons not previously interviewed who ate at the Country Cottage August 15-17, the days most persons who became ill ate there.  Those people will be contacted to see if they remember what they ate and if they later fell ill, she said.  “This information is necessary so that we can make the distinction between what might have been a popular food choice versus a valid association with illness,” Bradley said. (more…)

News releases all over the country are reporting that six more people have fallen ill with E. coli, this time in Massachusetts.  All six were infected with deadly E. coli strain 0157:H7, the most virulent of the strains.  Meanwhile, federal and state health officials are investigating the cases, which appear to be linked to those occurring nationwide associated with recalled meat from Nebraska Beef Limited.  Five of the patients required hospitalization, patients ranged in age from three to 60, and all six victims fell ill between July 10-16.

Although the contamination source has not been identified, state and US Department of Agriculture investigators are looking at ground beef.  This particular E. coli strain is typically found in cattle intestines, said Dr. Bela Matyas, medical director of the epidemiology program for the state health department.  E. coli taints meat through improper butchering and processing practices and, once released in the body, produces a type of toxin that leads to severe bleeding and diarrhea, has been associated with kidney damage in young children, and can also lead to kidney failure and death.  Symptoms of E. coli infection include stomach cramps and watery diarrhea that may turn bloody within one to three days. (more…)

A federal appeals court in San Francisco allowed a landmark sexual-discrimination lawsuit against Wal-Mart to move ahead, ruling that the seven plaintiffs were eligible for class-action status. Plaintiffs are alleging that women employed in Wal-Mart stores are paid less than male employees in comparable positions (regardless of performance ratings and seniority) and that female workers receive fewer and wait longer for promotions to in-store management positions than men. As many as 1.5 million former Wal-Mart employees may join the legal action.

The 2-1 decision by a judicial panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals comes a year and a half after the case was initially argued and submitted, and it upholds the decision made by a District Court in 2004 in the case of Dukes v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. The plaintiffs also filed a motion on April 28, 2003, to certify a class of female Wal-Mart employees who may have been affected by the company’s allegedly discriminatory policies.
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An October 13 incident on a Delta Airlines flight has sparked a growing controversy over the appropriateness of breast-feeding on commercial flights. Twenty-seven-year-old New Mexico resident Emily Gillette has filed a complaint with the Vermont Human Rights Commission against Delta and against Freedom Airlines, who operated the Delta flight from Burlington, Vt., to New York City.

In what may prove to be a widespread show of support, nursing mothers and other advocates of public breast-feeding are planning a series of “nurse-ins” to take place tomorrow in roughly a dozen domestic airports. Similar protests have already taken place at Burlington International Airport in defense of Gillette and of nursing mothers in general. Not only is breast-feeding natural and healthy for babies, say advocates, it’s also an effective way to keep a child’s noise level down during the flight experience.
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