Deadly Outbreak

Public health officials in Canada said Saturday that they had linked a deadly bacterial outbreak that killed four people to recalled meat products from Maple Leaf Foods. The outbreak has resulted in 21 confirmed cases of listeriosis, a kind of food poisoning that can be dangerous to the elderly, newborns, pregnant women and people with chronic medical conditions. Symptoms include fever, headache, stiffness, nausea, abdominal pain and diarrhea. "Results of genetic testing from three samples of the products recalled by Maple Leaf Foods show that two tested positive for the outbreak strain of listeria," the Public Health Agency of Canada said in a statement.

The Food and Drug Administration has proposed sweeping rules to curtail food-borne illnesses that kill thousands of Americans annually - and, in the process, to transform itself into an agency that prevents contamination, not one that merely investigates outbreaks. The rules, drafted with an eye toward strict standards in California and some other states, enable the implementation of the landmark Food Safety Modernization Act that President Obama signed two years ago in response to a string of deadly outbreaks of illness from contaminated spinach, eggs, peanut butter and imported produce.

San Diego-based Foodmaker Inc., owner of the Jack in the Box fast-food chain, said it signed a $58.5-million settlement of lawsuits it filed against suppliers of meat that led to a deadly outbreak of illnesses caused by E. coli bacteria. Foodmaker has agreed to drop suits against Safeway Inc., among others, over meat it contends was tainted and that caused the deaths of four children in 1993.

You get what you pay for. This maxim is proving true all over again when it comes to steroid injections used to alleviate back pain. Making safe and effective versions of such drugs involves manufacturing steps that aren't trivial. The cost of the medicine has to match the care that goes into creating it and the oversight required to ensure that the standards are maintained. Since September, about 250 people have been sickened and 19 have died after getting steroid injections for back pain.

Before a couple of days ago, you probably never gave much thought to Spanish cucumbers or German lettuce. But news about a deadly — and perhaps never-before-seen — strain of E. coli that has hit Europe is rattling nerves in this part of the world. American consumers have already shown a willingness to avoid foods that are even rumored to be contaminated with bacteria. The salmonella-tomato scare in 2008, the E. coli-tainted spinach in 2006 .... Consumers might well wonder whether we're due for another outbreak and, for that matter, whether raw produce can even be considered safe.

Germany scrambled Wednesday to pinpoint the source of a deadly outbreak of food-borne bacterial infections that has killed at least 16 people, sickened hundreds more and sparked a diplomatic squabble with Spain. The mass outbreak of E. coli infections is the worst of its kind in recent memory in Germany. Since the beginning of May, more than 1,000 residents have fallen ill from contaminated food, including 470 suffering from a more virulent and potentially life-threatening reaction known as hemolytic uremic syndrome, which can cause kidney failure, strokes and seizures.

Strawberries were an early suspect. For medical experts investigating the deadly outbreak of Listeria monocytogenes, the strawberry-as-villain theory made some sense: they were often eaten raw; they could be contaminated from manure used as fertilizer. Moreover, strawberries had been responsible for a previous epidemic in Connecticut. There were other theories. One suggested that water might be the culprit.

Reporting from Blythe, Calif. -- One of California's showcase solar energy projects, under construction in the desert east of Los Angeles, is being threatened by a deadly outbreak of distemper among kit foxes and the discovery of a prehistoric human settlement on the work site. The $1-billion Genesis Solar Energy Project has been expedited by state and federal regulatory agencies that are eager to demonstrate that the nation can build solar plants quickly to ease dependence on fossil fuels and curb global warming.

Authorities suspected that contaminated drinking water caused the deaths of 18 people and sickened 150 others this week in west-central Pakistan, an official said Thursday. Thirty people were in serious condition. The deaths occurred over the last two days in the district of Zhob, about 155 miles northeast of Quetta, said Abdur Rahim, a doctor at the Civil Hospital in the area's main town of Zhob.

Two more horses have died as a result of an illness believed linked to botulism in their feeding cubes, but a veterinary expert said Thursday that he still hopes that the outbreak, which has now killed at least 20 horses, is coming to an end. One of the horses died Wednesday at a stable in Chino. Another, at the Coto de Caza Equestrian Center, was put to sleep after it became apparent that it would not recover, said Dr. John W. Byrd, the veterinarian who treated the animal.

There's a terrible irony lurking in the recent news of the hantavirus outbreak at Yosemite National Park, which has killed three visitors and sickened half a dozen more since mid-June. Part of the backdrop of the 1864 act that established Yosemite as essentially the nation's first national park (that language would not be used until 1872 in the founding of Yellowstone National Park) had everything to do with health and healing in the latter years of the Civil War. We'd do well to note that from today's vantage of being in the middle of the sesquicentennial years of the war. You might not connect Yosemite to the Civil War. But Frederick Law Olmsted, co-creator of Central Park, certainly did. Eyewitness to the horrific destruction wrought by the war when he served as general secretary of the United States Sanitary Commission, a Red Cross-like operation for the North, Olmsted despaired as the nation became, in his memorable phrasing, a "republic of suffering.

HOUSTON -- Planes equipped to battle the West Nile outbreak in Texas have been grounded by rain, delaying the aerial application of pesticide targeting the deadly virus that has prompted a state of emergency in Dallas County, officials said. So far, Dallas County has reported 242 West Nile infections and 10 deaths, making it the epicenter of a statewide surge in infections. Texas has reported 552 cases and 21 deaths, by far the highest tally nationwide, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

A tragedy 1,300 miles away changed a way of life in this Central California farm town that proudly calls itself the Cantaloupe Center of the World. This would normally be the season when farmers plan the summer crop that in good years is valued at nearly $200 million, according to the California Cantaloupe Advisory Board. Instead, they are cutting acreage devoted to the fruit and scrambling for ways to reassure a nervous public that cantaloupes are safe to eat. In the fall, the deadliest food-borne illness outbreak in the United States since 1924 was traced to listeria-tainted cantaloupe in Colorado.

Before a couple of days ago, you probably never gave much thought to Spanish cucumbers or German lettuce. But news about a deadly — and perhaps never-before-seen — strain of E. coli that has hit Europe is rattling nerves in this part of the world. American consumers have already shown a willingness to avoid foods that are even rumored to be contaminated with bacteria. The salmonella-tomato scare in 2008, the E. coli-tainted spinach in 2006 .... Consumers might well wonder whether we're due for another outbreak and, for that matter, whether raw produce can even be considered safe.

A deadly outbreak of food-borne illness in Europe is being caused by an unusually virulent strain of E. coli that scientists haven't seen before and that may be dramatically more dangerous, global health officials said Thursday. The new strain has killed at least 17 people in Germany and Sweden and sickened 1,614 in 10 countries in Europe, the World Health Organization said. Unlike typical forms of the bacterium, which can cause severe diarrhea, this strain in many cases is resulting in a more severe reaction known as hemolytic uremic syndrome , or HUS. The syndrome occurs when toxins released by the bacteria destroy blood cells, which then clog the kidneys, leading to kidney failure.

Germany scrambled Wednesday to pinpoint the source of a deadly outbreak of food-borne bacterial infections that has killed at least 16 people, sickened hundreds more and sparked a diplomatic squabble with Spain. The mass outbreak of E. coli infections is the worst of its kind in recent memory in Germany. Since the beginning of May, more than 1,000 residents have fallen ill from contaminated food, including 470 suffering from a more virulent and potentially life-threatening reaction known as hemolytic uremic syndrome, which can cause kidney failure, strokes and seizures.

Federal health officials are investigating a listeria food poisoning outbreak in nine states that has killed four people and sickened 35. The prime suspects are hot dogs and cold cuts, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta confirmed. Officials would not confirm which brands or manufacturer were under suspicion. Listeria is a bacterium that healthy people often fight off with no more than flu-like symptoms. But it also can kill through meningitis or blood infection.

At the tree-lined entrance to the Stony Brook mobile home park in Raleigh, N.C., Maria Angelica Alvarez stood behind yellow police tape, clutching two bouquets of flowers and weeping on a friend's shoulder. Alvarez lost her three young sons in a three-day, 14-state maelstrom that killed at least 44 people and could prove to be one of the largest convulsions of tornado activity in U.S. history. The boys, ages 6, 8 and 9, were killed inside a bedroom, crushed by a tree that demolished their trailer.

As residents of Joplin, Mo., continued digging out from Sunday's deadly tornado, researchers prepared to visit the stricken city to assess the storm's intensity. Coming only three weeks after an unprecedented series of twisters wrought destruction across the Southeast, many were wondering whether the events were related and whether more severe storms were in store. Here are answers to some questions about the science of tornadoes. Was there a connection between Sunday's tornado and the ones in April?

At the tree-lined entrance to the Stony Brook mobile home park in Raleigh, N.C., Maria Angelica Alvarez stood behind yellow police tape, clutching two bouquets of flowers and weeping on a friend's shoulder. Alvarez lost her three young sons in a three-day, 14-state maelstrom that killed at least 44 people and could prove to be one of the largest convulsions of tornado activity in U.S. history. The boys, ages 6, 8 and 9, were killed inside a bedroom, crushed by a tree that demolished their trailer.