Improperly home-canned peas sickened three women in New York City last summer after they ate potato salad that contained the ingredient, underscoring the importance of safe canning procedures, New York health officials reported today in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR).
Today health officials in Saudi Arabia and Oman reported one new case of MERS-CoV each. This is the sixth case recorded in recent weeks in Oman; in Saudi Arabia, the new case is possibly linked to an ongoing hospital outbreak in Wadi ad-Dawasir.
According to the Muscat Daily yesterday, the Omani Ministry of Health tweeted that a new patient had been diagnosed as having MERS-CoV (Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus).
Because of the federal government shutdown, now in its third week, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has suspended all routine inspections of domestic food-processing facilities, a move that alarms some food safety advocates.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recorded 7 new confirmed cases of acute flaccid myelitis (AFM) this past week, bringing 2018's total to 165 confirmed cases.
According to the CDC, the 165 cases are among the total of 320 reports that it received regarding patients under investigation). CDC and local health departments are still investigating some of those suspected cases.
As the outbreak grows to 59 cases, officials puzzle over why romaine and not other lettuce was tainted.
In new romaine-linked Escherichia coli O157:H7 outbreak developments, federal health officials yesterday reported nine more illnesses and said trace-back investigations are focusing on 12 growers.
Flu activity in the Northern Hemisphere is starting to rise, though levels are still low, as flu returned to inter-seasonal levels in temperate parts of the Southern Hemisphere, the World Health Organization (WHO) said in its latest global flu update.
The CDC notes 11 more illnesses, raising the outbreak total to 43 cases in 12 states.
Romaine lettuce suspected in Escherichia coli O157:H7 illnesses in the United States and Canada probably came from California, based on growing and harvesting patterns, Scott Gottlieb, MD, US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) commissioner, said in a Nov 23 Twitter post.
The next step is to withdraw the product that's at risk from the market, then restock the market, he said.
So far 32 illnesses have been confirmed in 11 states, as well as 18 cases in Canada.
