Coli

It seems like there have been a lot of stories in the paper recently about contaminated food causing problems in children. How can I protect my family?It is hard to know how many cases of food-borne illness actually occur each year because such illnesses are difficult to track. Many individuals do not seek care when they become ill, assuming that it was a virus or something they ate. Nonetheless, it is estimated that up to 4,000 deaths and 5 million illnesses are caused annually by contaminated meat and poultry alone.

SO FAR, the outbreak of food poisoning in Japan has struck more than 10,000 people, killing seven and hospitalizing some 600 others. In 1993, more than 700 Americans became ill after consuming under-cooked meat from a hamburger chain.The culprit in both outbreaks was a bacterial species of Escherichia coli, or E. coli. And similar outbreaks are preventable if consumers are cautious about food preparation. E. coli strains are almost universally present in human intestines and most are harmless micro-organisms that serve important functions in nutrition and normal gastrointestinal health.

IN JANUARY 1993, the same month Bill Clinton became president, three children died after eating hamburgers at a fast-food outlet and some 500 persons became ill from ingesting the virulent E. coli 0157: H7 bacterium. The national outcry drew promises that the new administration would do something. Now, after an early false start, the president has announced the most significant changes in meat inspection rules in 90 years.Though understandably skeptical, Americans can take comfort that even some consumer-watchdog groups have welcomed this initiative.

WASHINGTON -- President Clinton announced yesterday the most sweeping changes in the government's meat inspection system since it was created nearly a century ago, outlining new rules that would, for the first time, impose scientific tests for disease-causing bacteria.The new rules call for more inspection and controls by the meat- and poultry-processing industry itself and new testing by the Department of Agriculture.Drafted over the past two years, the rules will be final upon their publication in the Federal Register this week.

Q: Ever since I read the stories about those children who got so sick from eating hamburgers, I've been afraid to serve any meat to my children that isn't well done.But they complain it's too dry.How do you know how much to cook meat?A: To answer your question, we need to explain a bit about the illness you describe.It was caused by the bacteria E. coli, which commonly live in cows' intestines. If eaten by humans, especially children, this bacteria can cause severe diarrheal illness that can proceed to shock and even death.

A SINGLE individual files a lawsuit alleging that his wife's terminal brain cancer was caused by a cellular telephone and panic sweeps the industry. Stocks of cellular phone companies plunge overnight. (Though such is the ingenuity of capitalism that several weeks later several "cancer-proof" cellular phones are already in development.)This story is only the most extreme example of a widespread phenomenon in our society. It is the belief, most fervently cherished by environmentalists -- but transmitted through the press to the rest of us -- that man's hubris in invention and science is meeting with the terrible retribution of Mother Nature.

SEATTLE -- Making good on a promise to do what was "morally right," Jack in the Box says it will pay the hospitalization costs of customers stricken by the E. coli bacteria after eating hamburgers at one of the chain's fast-food restaurants.President Robert Nugent said his company would help its customers "immediately, with no strings attached."More than 300 Washington state residents have become ill from the E. coli outbreak. Almost all of the cases have been linked to hamburgers sold at Jack in the Box restaurants.