Posted on 06/08/2008 3:49:11 AM PDT by Pharmboy
ALBUQUERQUE (AP) — Salmonella food poisoning first linked to uncooked tomatoes has spread to 16 states, federal health officials said Saturday.
Investigations by the health departments of Texas and New Mexico and the federal Indian Health Service have tied 56 cases in Texas and 55 in New Mexico to raw, uncooked tomatoes.
“We’re seeing a steady increase,” said Deborah Busemeyer, the communications director for the New Mexico Department of Health.
An additional 50 people have been sickened by the same salmonella infection in Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Oklahoma, Oregon, Utah, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported.
Investigators are trying to determine if raw tomatoes are also responsible for the illnesses in those states, said Arleen Porcell, a spokeswoman for the C.D.C.
The source of the tomatoes responsible for the illnesses has not been determined.
At least 23 people have been hospitalized, and no deaths have been reported, Ms. Porcell said.
The rarity of the salmonella strain and the number of illnesses “suggest that implicated tomatoes are distributed throughout the country,” she said.
Cherry tomatoes, grape tomatoes, tomatoes sold with the vine still attached and homegrown tomatoes are likely not the source of the outbreak, Ms. Busemeyer said.
Salmonella, snip...usually is transmitted to humans who eat food contaminated with animal feces.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
I think I heard that Howard Hughes was sort of a fanatic about not touching people or things because he was worried about germs. Isn’t the guy from Deal or No Deal the same?
Our human bodies have somewhere between 50 and 100 trillion cells. I’ve heard a bunch of estimates. Human, mammalian cells, that’s what I mean.
That’s like a million million.
But that number is miniscule compared to the little friends we all have, bacteria living in our gut, on our skin and scalp, even floating around our bloodstream. 99.999 percent of them totally harmless, some even life-or-death necessary, (bacteria in the gut make Vitamin K, a crucial component for blood coagulation, it was not identified for a long time because most people had the bacteria so weren’t Vitamin K deficient).
And they are usually much smaller than human cells.
We are carrying around with us something like ten or a hundred times as many bacteria as our own cells. So we are really walking cesspools.
Food and Garden HEADS UP!!!!!!!!!
Your post reminded me of how exasperating my SIL is when she freaks over her kids coming to the country for a visit. If the kids get a smudge of dirt on them....they immediately have to go in the house and wash off. Good grief. They're sick all the time and it's no wonder.
When we were kids and got splinters, my mom would try to dig it out with a needle.
If she couldn’t get it out, she’d say “Let it fester”, and in a day or two it would pop out on it’s own.
Trouble about bacteria is like the trouble with plants. 99.999% of plants are edible.
But there’s a tiny percentage that if you have them for lunch, you will never, ever have to wonder about what’s for dinner. Ever!
Notice they wont report the source....most likely they are from Mexico or Cent. America.
When America grew its own we didnt have as much a problem with unsanitary food.
Thank every America-hater free-trader, for another NAFTA nutty gloablist food illness...
Perhaps she should do some research on the overuse of antibacterial soaps in homes these days.
We do kill off our own body’s self defense.
And in places below the border (stretching down to south America) where we are advised not to “drink the water”, the locals can do so because of other organisms in their bodies. Take them off the continent for 6 months and they too will be susceptable as the beneficial organisms have died off (not having anything to eat/fight).
“”””Salmonella is, in the world of toxic/poisonous bacteria, pretty much a lightweight.””””
____________________________________________________________
That may be the case, but it sure did not feel like a lightweight when I got a case of Salmonella 12 years ago from a restaurant dinner. I was sick, I mean real sick, ten days sick. So sick I felt like I wanted to die. I’m not sure what the cause is of the ordinary, run of the mill intestinal ailments you get from dining in Mexico or wherever, the “Montezuma’s Revenge” type of ailment, but that type, which I’ve had as well, is truly a lightweight compared to Salmonella.
I would not wish Salmonella on anyone.......at least not anyone who’s a conservative politically !!
We were talking about this yesterday evening as we were ENJOYING the fresh tomatoes from the garden.
That’s exactly my method for dealing with splinters! I’m still here...so are my kids.
I did get a tetnus shot when I took a rooster spur to the shin once-it was deep! I ain’t stupid. Same for when one of the kids wiped out on their bike on our DIRT road and made hamburger out of their hip. Just some common sense.
Lainey, I know where you’re coming from! I have towney friends like that too. Sheeesh! And their kids are a mess, all the time-allergies, colds, asthma, etc.
Although I will concede that our immune systems might not cope well with the 3rd world mega cooties that come from Mexico and the like. Ours are tempered by plain old American ‘bugs’.
I used to get my solar stuff from an outfit called Real Goods. I always perused their virtual book site, and sure enough there was at least one book on using human waste to fertilize crops. Noooope, not buyin' it. Then there's the whole "illegals" in the crops defecating. And crops grown abroad and sold domestically. But there's even another, and I periodically think about it - Jack Thompson was very worried about AQ/terrorists poisoning salad bars. I can't remember which congresscritters he got involved to try and do something about protecting produce at restaurants, and in the fields. I don't know that the proposed bill went anywhere.
I don't remember there being such "alerts" for produce throughout most my life.
My tomato plants are happy and thriving. Have got my area picked for planting lettuces.
We’ve been eating tomatoes a lot lately, the “on the vine” variety. After we saw the sign at Five Guys, my husband asked if I’d been washing them, and I had, but I would have paid more attention to my washing if I’d known there was a Salmonella outbreak.
I use extra care now when washing the outside of cantalopes or watermelon before I cut into them.
Thanks for posting this to alert others. Our son had Salmonella poisoning once and it’s not a “fun” thing.
Thanks for the link—fills in a few more details.
Here’s the latest. Read between the lines:
At this time, FDA is advising consumers to limit their consumption of tomatoes to the following types of tomatoes. The following types of tomatoes listed below are NOT likely to be the source of this outbreak.
cherry tomatoes
grape tomatoes
tomatoes sold with the vine still attached
tomatoes grown at home
Also, FDA recommends consuming raw red plum, raw red Roma, or raw red round tomatoes only if grown and harvested from the following areas that HAVE NOT BEEN ASSOCIATED WITH THE OUTBREAK:
Arkansas
California
Georgia
Hawaii
North Carolina
South Carolina
Tennessee
Texas
Belgium
Canada
Dominican Republic
Guatemala
Israel
Netherlands
Puerto Rico
Consumers who are unsure of where the tomatoes are from that they have in their home are encouraged to contact the store or place of purchase for that information.
Consumers should also be aware that raw tomatoes are often used in the preparation of fresh salsa, guacamole, and pico de gallo, are part of fillings for tortillas, and are used in other dishes.
Yours: "where we are advised not to “drink the water”, " I specifically did not go on a 5 day class venture to Mexico during junior high and because of known warnings about "Montezuma's Revenge". My folks were exasperated with me. I told 'em, If I can't drink the water and be healthy, I ain't goin!
I don't drink juices or soda, water's my thing. I was just being true to myself.
I like that. "towney friends". *chuckle* Yes.. her youngest has asthma, eczema, food allergies, etc. The poor kids has been pumped full of antibiotics and steroids since he was a baby.... and she wonders why he has no immune system left.
Now that I live in NJ, I appreciate the most excellent tomatoes that come from The Garden State. However, prudence still reuires good washing. Have a great summer...perhaps a visit or two to Lake George or Lake Champlain?
By the time you get a tomato at the supermarket, there's no telling how many people (and critters) have pawed all over that produce and yet people are too lazy to wash their food before eating it.
A friend's wife (rabid liberal) is of the opinion that this would happen with 'organic' tomatoes. I explained to her that it has already happened with 'organic' onions and the like from California.
Technically speaking, salmonella IS organic....especially if you've studied chemistry.
Exactly. And all of these sanitizers that kill 99.9% bacteria amaze me, it is the 0.1% that will kill you.
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