News & Perspective

(CIDRAP News) – Health officials in North Carolina recently announced that the petting zoo at the Cleveland County Fair was the initial source of Escherichia coli O157:H7 in an outbreak that sickened 106 people and led to the death of a2-year-old boy.

(CIDRAP News) – A national consortium of groups that have a stake in managing foodborne illness outbreaks today released guidelines for outbreak response, a document that includes model practices for each investigation stage, giving local and state officials a baseline for assessing their current procedures.

(CIDRAP News) – Foodborne disease rates in 2008 stayed about the same as in the previous 3 years, underlining the need for renewed efforts to improve food safety, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported today.