bacteria

Health officials have linked a 7-state salmonella outbreak to Garden of Life meal replacement shakes. The Minnesota Department of Health says at least 8 people have been sickened.

A single course of antibiotics can cause Clostridium difficile, or C. diff – a bacterium that can lead to a condition known as Clostridium difficile colitis – to flourish in the gut, according to researchers at North Carolina State University.
The discovery was made during experiments with mice. The scientists say the antibiotics were found to kill off bacteria responsible for altering bile acid.

Health officials have finally been able to pinpoint the source of a Listeria outbreak that sickened 12 people and killing 1.
Dole Food Co. announced that its fresh vegetable unit suspended production at an Ohio plant where the pathogen was detected, and is recalling packaged salads produced there. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said the outbreak occurred last summer, but people should throw out any packaged salads produced at the facility, just to be cautious.

Two outbreaks of Legionnaires disease in and around Flint, Michigan, have health officials looking into whether they were caused or at least affected by the ongoing water-contamination problem going on in that city.
The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services is investigating the outbreaks, in 2014 and 2015, which sickened 87 people and killed 10 in Genesee County. The sick ranged in age from 26 to 94, and fell ill between either June 6, 2014, to March 9, 2015, or May 4, 2015, to Oct. 29, 2015, the agency said.

Throughout 2015, Chipotle Mexican grill experienced a multitude of E. coli outbreaks at various locations across America, giving the restaurant a less-than-favorable reputation to the masses. This is unfortunate for this restaurant in particular, as it is one who has committed in the past to remove controversial genetically modified ingredients from its food items, while moving toward healthier alternatives overall.
Here is a timeline of Chipotle’s terrible luck with food outbreaks in 2015:

Listeria has been found lurking in the Brenham, Texas facility that produces Blue Bell ice cream, a southern favorite that was pulled from shelves in April 2015 when at least 10 people were sickened with listeria, including 3 people who died.

First it showed up in China, then Denmark and now it has reared its ugly head in the United Kingdom. Bacteria resistant to all forms of antibiotics are making their way around the globe.

What will it take for the agriculture industry to stop feeding antibiotics to livestock for non-medical purposes? Will it take an all-out crisis for these farms to wake up, and will it be too late by then?

A rare disease known as rabbit fever (also called tularemia) that was thought to have been largely conquered decades ago has made a resurgence in the U.S.

A rare disease known as rabbit fever (also called tularemia) that was thought to have been largely conquered decades ago has made a resurgence in the U.S.