Category: investigation
An Unsuspected Treat Contaminated with Listeria. How about them Caramel Apples?
By Mandip Kaur and Brendan Jackson Oh, how sweet it is to enjoy a caramel apple when autumn sweeps in! Maybe you like yours topped with nuts? Sprinkles? How about chocolate? But who knew that this past fall, certain caramel apples would be contaminated with the dangerous Listeria monocytogenes bacteria (here, Listeria for short), and Read More >
Posted on by 15 CommentsOutbreak Investigation: Meningitis
One Case Sparks National Action Imagine… A patient goes to the doctor for a routine steroid injection. A couple weeks later, the patient feels sick – headache, fever and suddenly uncomfortable in bright light. Within days, the patient is admitted to the local hospital’s intensive care unit. Doctors discover that the patient has a life-threatening Read More >
Posted on by 5 CommentsDisease Detection: Laboratories on the front lines
You can’t respond to threats if you don’t know what they are, which is one reason that laboratories play such an important role in public health. Public health laboratories have helped detect all kinds of threats to the public’s health; including anthrax, monkey pox, novel flu viruses, and foodborne disease outbreaks caused by germs like Read More >
Posted on by 8 CommentsHelping Scotland Investigate, Treat Anthrax Among Heroin Users
On December 17th, Health Protection Scotland contacted the Bacterial Zoonosis Branch (BZB) to discuss 3 cases of anthrax in heroin users. They requested assistance with the epidemiologic investigation and patient treatment options, such as adjunctive therapy with anthrax immune globulin. Because immunotherapy is of potential benefit in anthrax, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Read More >
Posted on by 7 CommentsSalmonella Typhimurium Outbreak Investigation: Do Not Try This at Home
The Enteric Diseases programs at CDC have been collaborating with state public health officials, the USDA-Food Safety and Inspection Service, and the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to investigate a multi-state outbreak of human infections due to Salmonella serotype Typhimurium affecting almost 400 persons. There are numerous interesting features of this outbreak that Read More >
Posted on by 3 CommentsCSI Atlanta: Foodborne Outbreak
During the recent investigation of the outbreak of Salmonella Saintpaul, CDC often mentioned that the overall “outbreak investigation is complex and difficult.” This complexity and difficulty extends to the hundreds of outbreaks that never make national headlines as local public health officials trace outbreaks to specific venues and food items. CDC assists local public health Read More >
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