'Burgh ChiChis Ping Thing
Posted on 12/02/2005 11:10:55 AM PST by BurbankKarl
Health officials on Thursday identified lettuce as the likely source for a hepatitis A outbreak in Los Angeles County and urged residents to thoroughly wash the vegetable before eating it.
At least 60 people have fallen ill from the virus in Los Angeles County over the last three months. Officials are concerned because the outbreak comes after years of declining hepatitis A cases, but they have been unable to link the outbreak to a particular farm or type of lettuce.
There were at least two outbreaks: one in a downtown Los Angeles restaurant in September that affected 13; the other at an event catered by a Hollywood company in October where 19 fell ill. The other cases were scattered.
Officials would not identify the specific locations of the outbreaks, saying there is no ongoing risk at those sites.
"We believe lettuce was the problem in these events," said Dr. Jonathan Fielding, public health director for Los Angeles County.
"This is a problem that deserves real attention, and people eating in a restaurant should ask if the produce is being cleaned carefully."
Fielding added that consumers should wash even salads that are packaged and labeled as washed. Packaged lettuce has been linked to E. coli outbreaks, including a case this fall involving salads packaged by a division of Westlake Village-based Dole Food Co. in Salinas, Calif. The salads sickened more than a dozen people in Minnesota.
Officials had initially observed an increase in hepatitis A in homeless patients in the downtown Los Angeles area, although those numbers are dropping, said Dr. Laurene Mascola, director of the county's acute communicable disease control unit.
The county has observed declining hepatitis A rates since 1999, when health officials began advising that children be vaccinated against the disease.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
I damn well make sure I wash my fruit and vegetables.
HEALTH ALERT, PING!!!!
I knew salad was bad for you!
Yum, nightsoil.
Coming soon, schistosomiasis.
Owl_Eagle(If what I just wrote makes you sad or angry,
Guess I'll have to pass up on the salad & have a BLT for lunch instead. For "health" reasons, ya know...
I think I'll stick with the steak.
In Germany,when I was stationed there years ago, we had to be extremely careful not to eat the veggies off base because of hepatitis. This was caused by using human excrement for fertilizer. I wonder if our wondeful ILLLEGAL aliens are pooping in our lettuce fields and passing on this wonderful disease to CA residents.
Hey, but at least is doesn't cost you the $5 per head that it would if the illegal aliens weren't here to pick it!
The only trade-off is you have to eat fruits and veggies covered with their Hepatitis-ridden urine!
Uh oh, are you cooking up some new stuff in the lab again?
'Burgh ChiChis Ping Thing
From Mexico's toilet to your plate!
Um, you better leave the L out of the BLT.
Steak - mad cow
Lettuce - Hep C
Poultry - Bird Flu
I'm gonna pour me a drink and think about it.
In this country I don't believe that human waste is allowed to be used as fertilizer, but if the price is right we will eat anybody elses that is grown on it.
We always wash our lettuce. But that means rinsing it in cold water and draining it, not washing it with warm water and soap.
I'm not insure that washing infected lettuce would be enough. And although so far this outbreak appears to be restricted to California, California lettuce is shipped all over the country.
I think they'd better trace down the source.
Safest most abundant food supply in the world PING
ooohhh good catch! Just a plate of pig, please!
Yeah, but it's worth it because the lettuce is so cheap and we get to experience the joys of diversity! (sarc)
You may be right. All we have left is booze. It's a wonderful life!!!!!
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