By Gustavo Capdevila
GENEVA, May 21 1997 (IPS)

Illnesses from contaminated food are a serious universal health problem, aggravated by an increase in foodbourne infections caused by a recently discovered pathogen.

The cases of infection by the new pathogen “E. coli” 0157:H7 appear to be on the upsurge, presenting a mortal danger, said experts in the World Health Organisation (WHO).

A large part of the problem had until now been attributed to contaminated beef, but 42 technicians meeting in the WHO in May said a wide range of foodstuffs could be responsible for human infection.

Experts in the fight against these infections said there was also evidence of person to person spread and transmission through contact with animals or animal manure.

An outbreak of E. coli 0157:H7 in Scotland in 1996-7, showed the control measures should concentrate on meat products, said Fritz Kaferstein, of the WHO Food Safety and Food Aid Programmes.

Here, the 496 cases of the illness, which caused 19 deaths, were related to meat products from a popular butcher’s shop, said Kaferstein.

However, he also warned fresh vegetables are becoming increasingly important as a source of food bourne transmission, and that prevention and control guidelines should be brought in for ready-to-eat raw agricultural produce.

In 1995 and 1996, there were five outbreaks of this type of E. coli infection related to contaminated lettuces in the United States.

A report from the US Centres for Disease Control said there had been an extensive outbreak associated with the consumption of infected unpasturised apple juice.

Other recent bouts of infection had been sparked by hot-dogs, yoghourt, mayonnaise and fruit juices.

The new pathogenic agent has shown unexpected tolerance to acid environments which had, until now been considered an effective barrier in food production.

Kaferstein said these statements were “especially worrying because of the long-term health effects E. coli infections can have on children.”

Escherichia Coli 0157:H7 can cause bloody diarrhea. In some sufferers, especially children, this can lead to haemolytic uraemic syndrome (HUS) which leads to kidney damage and failure with chronic and even fatal results.

An epidemic in mid-1996 in Japan affected more than 9,000 people, killing 12 children.

The most widespread outbreak, in the city of Sakai, affected 5,700 people who had eaten contaminated white radish sprouts. The same product apparently caused another outbreak in 1997.

The WHO experts suggested a series of rules be brought in on the consumption and preparation of foodstuffs, including the pasturisation of milk and the treatment of fresh or frozen poultry with ionizing radiation.

Raw salad ingredients, they stated, should be washed with great care.

Many raw foodstuffs, like poultry, meat, eggs and unpasturised milk could be contaminated with illness causing organisms.

Appropriate cooking, they said, destroys the pathogenic germs, but only if all parts of the food reach 70 degrees centigrade.

If the meat of a cooked chicken is still red around the bones, it should be returned to the oven until properly cooked.

When cooked food cools down again, the microbes reactivate, so ideally food should be eaten as soon as possible after cooked.

The WHO experts also advise against storing pre-cooked foods for children, recommending all cooked food be stored with the utmost care.

The best protection against microbes is to reheat food in such a way that all parts of the food reach a temperature of 70 degrees, thus killing the germs. (FIN/IPS/tra-so/pc/sm/97)

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