Tag: Food borne disease outbreak

Genetic family trees show the German outbreak of E coli is a member of small family of germs called EAEC — that includes an African germ — and is distinct from EHECs

The latest news is that the German outbreak strain of Escherichia coli is a member of small family of germs called EAEC that includes an African member (Ec55989 ). This family is clearly distinct from classical EHEC (=STEC)  bacteria such as E. coli O157:H7. The Pundit will now start calling them  EAEC/STEC recombinant or hybrid…

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Natural GMOs Part 86: The parents of the German E. coli germ engaged in horizontal gene transfer

STEC/EHEC outbreak – horizontally transferred genes « bacpathgenomics: “STEC/EHEC outbreak – horizontally transferred genes” Kat Holt has produced a fantastic visual presentation of the family tree of the German disease causing E. coli EHEC/EAEC/STEC germ. The Pundit won’t spoil her story with too much comment: In the German outbreak bacteria, as in most E. coli,…

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Scrutiny of all the evidence and the whole food chain is narrowing down the culprit in the German E. coli outbreak to sprouts operations in the Hamburg region

Updated 9/06/2011 The mists of uncertainty are starting to clear in Germany, after much waxing and waning over the last few days. To find the culprit good detective work on what people eat and where they eat has been essential. Sprouts have been added to the lists of suspect foods which included cucumbers and tomatoes….

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What Europeans should have read about pathogenic E. coli in 2007 to have helped avoid the current food safety crisis

E. coli can survive for a long time on composted soils Germany is fatally sick. There is a lethal elephant in the room.  This is that elephant: “Use of animal wastes in fertilization of fresh fruits and vegetable plots significantly increased the risk of E. coli contamination in fresh produce grown in semi-organic and organic…

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Natural GMOs Part 83: Natural biology comes with no guarantee of safety

Scanning electron micrograph of Escherichia coli, grown in culture and adhered to a cover slip: Image: National Institutes of Health (part of the United States Department of Health and Human Services)/Public domain. Natural GMOs can be really really bad and fundamentally unsafe, because Nature is not scrutinised by any human regulatory agency, and many natural GMOs…

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