Coli

The annual elementary-school ritual of hatching cute, fluffy chicks isn't, it turns out, quite the harmless fun generations of children thought it was.After a veterinary hospital found E. coli and salmonella in the droppings of chicks hatched in a Seattle kindergarten, egg-hatching has been dropped as part of a hands-on science curriculum used by eight Northwest school districts.The Highline School District south of Seattle, which produces science kits for itself and seven other districts, discontinued the unit on chicken embryology this fall.

Gaithersburg-based IGEN International Inc. said yesterday that it has launched field studies of a test it has developed that can detect the presence of E. coli bacteria in meat and other food.The bacteria have been implicated as the cause of numerous outbreaks of gastrointestinal and renal diseases, including last summer's stomach illnesses from tainted meat processed at a Hudson Foods plant.IGEN, maker of a medical diagnostic device, said the U.S. Department of Agriculture and an unidentified food producer would participate in the study aimed at evaluating how sensitive the test is to the bacteria.

DENVER -- Atlanta shortstop Walt Weiss said he's looking at tonight's All-Star Game and its many festivities through "different eyes."Eyes that watched his 3-year-old son, Brody, battle for his life after contracting a deadly strain of E. coli from swallowing contaminated water in a public swimming pool. Eyes, probably moist, that will search out Brody in the stands tonight at Coors Field."That will be the thrill for me, that he's able to come here," Weiss said.The moment was made possible by Colorado owner Jerry McMorris, who flew in Weiss' family on his private jet."

Pool water has that smell and taste, that artificially aquamarine look, for a reason: state-regulated standards of biocidal chlorine, bromine and other disinfectant chemicals.But on June 24, at least nine children caught a virulent strain of E-coli bacteria in a wading pool at White Water Recreation Park in Atlanta - the first reported instance in the nation of E-coli contamination in a chlorinated public pool.The pool was regulated with an automatic chlorination system, but a toddler infected with E-coli 0157:H7 reportedly defecated in the pool, contaminating the water.

A toxic strain of E. coli bacteria has been ruled out as the cause of death last month of an 11-year-old Taneytown girl, a Carroll County health official said yesterday.That bacterium usually causes the symptoms exhibited by Kara L. Staley before her death, said Charles L. Zeleski, director of environmental health for the county Health Department.But he said, "about one-quarter of the time, it is something other than the E. coli, other than this organism."Kara died Sept. 24 at a Hershey, Pa., hospital of hemolytic uremic syndrome -- in which red blood cells are destroyed and the kidneys fail.

County health officials are analyzing food samples from two area restaurants where an 11-year-old Taneytown girl dined in the 10 days before she died of an illness that is frequently linked to a toxic strain of E. coli bacteria.Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture food safety inspectors are also checking several restaurants in the Hanover, Pa., area that were patronized by the family of Kara L. Staley.Health officials say the tests are a standard precaution, and no evidence exists of an outbreak of food-borne illness.

HUMAN BEINGS may think they rule the world, but lesser links in the food chain seem determined to strike back. With scares from tainted meet, fruit, vegetables and even unpasteurized juice, Americans are learning that a safe food supply is not something that can be taken for granted, though the United States has long enjoyed far better protections than most other countries.According to the World Health Organization, food-borne diseases may be 300 to 350 times more prevalent than the reported cases indicate.

WASHINGTON -- A Nebraska meat-processing plant is closing temporarily and expanding its recall of ground beef to 25 million pounds after federal investigators found evidence that far more meat might be contaminated by a hazardous bacteria than originally suspected.It is the largest such recall in U.S. history, said Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman. Last week, the Hudson plant in the eastern Nebraska town of Columbus recalled 1.2 million pounds of meat.The beef has been distributed across the country in 4-ounce frozen patties to a variety of chains, including Burger King, Boston Market, Wal-Mart, Sam's Club and Safeway supermarkets, Glickman said.

As the summer grilling season reaches its full sizzle, hundreds of scientists and public health officials converged on Baltimore yesterday to discuss a hazard posed by that most all-American of foods -- the hamburger.The bacterial strain known as E. coli 0157 is considered an emerging pathogen, a bug that appeared without warning in 1982. It now causes 20,000 infections and 250 deaths annually in the United States: cases traced to unpasteurized apple juice, contaminated water, raw vegetables and various meats, but mostly to ground beef that is served rare.

A vaccine to prevent urinary tract infections has proved successful in mice and holds promise for people, researchers report today in the journal Science. The advance is also expected to lead to vaccines for other common infections.The new vaccine, developed by a team from Washington University in St. Louis and Medimmune, a private company in Gaithersburg, Md., must still be tested in humans and so will not be available for at least five years. But other scientists called it the most important advance in more than 20 years of efforts to make a vaccine for urinary infections.