News & Perspective

(CIDRAP News) – This year's report card from Trust for America's Health (TFAH) on state and national public health emergency preparedness shows some signs of progress along with major gaps, sagging funding, and worry that the current economic crisis will bring deeper spending cuts.

(CIDRAP News) – A widely publicized Salmonella outbreak that was linked to frozen pot pies last year involved 401 cases in 41 states and put more than 100 patients in hospitals, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said today in a final report on the episode.

(CIDRAP News) – Salmonella infections associated with dry pet food from a plant in Pennsylvania have continued to crop up in recent months, prompting closure of the plant and concern that contaminated products may still be in use, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported today.

(CIDRAP News) – The number of people involved in a restaurant-related outbreak of an uncommon strain of Escherichia coli has risen to 291, including 67 who were hospitalized, Oklahoma officials reported recently.

Sixteen of the hospital patients have received kidney dialysis treatment, the Oklahoma State Department of Health (OSDH) reported in its latest official update on Sep 12. One person, a 26-year-old man, has died in the outbreak.

(CIDRAP News) – Federal officials today lifted their warning about eating raw jalapeno and Serrano peppers from Mexico and said the nation's largest foodborne illness outbreak, which was linked to an uncommon Salmonella strain, appears to be over.

(CIDRAP News) – A nationwide Salmonella outbreak linked mainly to fresh hot peppers from Mexico is ending, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said yesterday, amid reports that contaminated shipments had been turned back at the US border well before the outbreak and that some restaurants and grocery stores are still buying the imported peppers.

(CIDRAP News) – A grocery chain based in Arizona removed Mexican-grown jalapeno peppers from its produce departments after some of the peppers from one of its distributors tested positive for the Salmonella outbreak strain, as the number of sick linked to the outbreak today climbed to 1,330.

(CIDRAP News) – The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently said jalapeno peppers grown in the United States are safe to eat, in view of findings that suggest the contaminated peppers responsible for many illnesses in the nationwide Salmonella outbreak came only from Mexican sources.

(CIDRAP News) – Federal officials today lifted warnings against eating certain tomatoes and said new clues in the ongoing nationwide Salmonella outbreak have led investigators from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to explore a Mexican packinghouse that handles jalapeno and Serrano peppers.

(CIDRAP News) – The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said today that the number of cases in a nationwide Salmonella outbreak that might be linked to contaminated tomatoes and hot peppers has climbed to 1,167 and that new illnesses are still being reported.