Salmonella Infections in Food Workers Identified through Routine Public Health Surveillance in Minnesota: Impact on Outbreak Recognition

2010 ◽  
Vol 73 (11) ◽  
pp. 2053-2058 ◽  
Author(s):  
CARLOTA MEDUS ◽  
KIRK E. SMITH ◽  
JEFFREY B. BENDER ◽  
FE LEANO ◽  
CRAIG W. HEDBERG
Keyword(s):  
Median Duration ◽  
Salmonella Enteritidis ◽  
Food Service ◽  
Salmonella Newport ◽  
Salmonella Infections ◽  
Routine Surveillance ◽  
Outbreak Investigations ◽  
High Index Of Suspicion ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Food Workers

The frequency of Salmonella-infected food workers identified through routine surveillance from 1997 to 2004 in Minnesota was determined in order to evaluate the impact of surveillance on the detection of outbreaks in restaurants and to quantify the duration of Salmonella shedding in stool. Of 4,976 culture-confirmed Salmonella cases reported to the Minnesota Department of Health, 110 (2.2%) were identified as food workers; this was less than one-half the number expected based on the incidence of Salmonella in the general population. Twenty food workers (18%) were associated with outbreaks. Twelve were involved in nine independent outbreaks at the restaurants where they worked. The identification of the index food worker in six of these outbreaks was critical to the initiation of outbreak investigations that revealed much larger problems. Among food workers who submitted specimens until at least one negative result was obtained (n = 69), the median duration of shedding was 22 days (range, 1 to 359 days). Among the four most common serotypes (Enteritidis, Typhimurium, Heidelberg, and Newport) the median duration of shedding was significantly longer for Salmonella Newport (80 days; P = 0.02) and for Salmonella Enteritidis (32 days; P = 0.04) than for Salmonella Heidelberg (8 days). Food workers should be considered an important source of Salmonella transmission, and those identified through surveillance should raise a high index of suspicion of a possible outbreak at their place of work. Food service managers need to be alert to Salmonella-like illnesses among food workers to facilitate prevention and control efforts, including exclusion of infected food workers or restriction of their duties.

Restaurant Salmonella Enteritidis Outbreak Associated with an Asymptomatic Infected Food Worker

2009 ◽  
Vol 72 (11) ◽  
pp. 2332-2336 ◽  
Author(s):  
ERIN HEDICAN ◽  
CAROL HOOKER ◽  
TIMOTHY JENKINS ◽  
CARLOTA MEDUS ◽  
SELINA JAWAHIR ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Salmonella Enteritidis ◽  
Gastrointestinal Symptoms ◽  
The United States ◽  
Pulsed Field Gel Electrophoresis ◽  
Menu Item ◽  
Routine Surveillance ◽  
Restaurant Employees ◽  
Foodborne Outbreaks ◽  
Stool Samples ◽  
Food Workers

Salmonella is the most common bacterial cause of foodborne outbreaks in the United States; approximately half of Salmonella outbreaks occur in restaurant settings. In February 2008, investigation of a cluster of Salmonella Enteritidis cases with indistinguishable pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) patterns revealed that five cases had eaten at the same restaurant. Cases were identified through routine surveillance activities and by contacting meal companions of culture-confirmed cases. Well meal companions and well patrons contacted via check stubs served as controls. Illness histories and stool samples were collected from all restaurant employees. Sandwiches were the only menu item or ingredient significantly associated with illness (15 of 15 cases versus 17 of 37 controls; odds ratio, undefined; P < 0.001). None of the six restaurant employees reported experiencing recent gastrointestinal symptoms . The outbreak PFGE subtype of Salmonella Enteritidis was identified in two food workers. One of the positive employees began working at the restaurant shortly before the first exposure date reported by a case, and assisted in the preparation of sandwiches and other foods consumed by cases. The other positive employee rarely, if ever, handled food. The restaurant did not have a glove use policy. There was no evidence of ongoing transmission after exclusion of the positive food workers. This was a restaurant Salmonella Enteritidis outbreak associated with an asymptomatic infected food worker. Routine PFGE subtyping of Salmonella Enteritidis isolates, routine interviewing of cases, and an iterative approach to cluster investigations allowed for timely identification of the source of an outbreak of Salmonella Enteritidis infections.

Do Microbial Interactions and Cultivation Media Decrease the Accuracy of Salmonella Surveillance Systems and Outbreak Investigations?

2009 ◽  
Vol 72 (4) ◽  
pp. 707-713 ◽  
Author(s):  
RANDALL S. SINGER ◽  
ANNE E. MAYER ◽  
TIMOTHY E. HANSON ◽  
RICHARD E. ISAACSON
Keyword(s):  
Salmonella Typhimurium ◽  
Salmonella Enteritidis ◽  
Microbial Interactions ◽  
Surveillance Systems ◽  
Single Strain ◽  
The Public ◽  
Salmonella Newport ◽  
Outbreak Investigations ◽  
Health Significance ◽  
Low Sensitivity

Cultivation methods are commonly used in Salmonella surveillance systems and outbreak investigations, and consequently, conclusions about Salmonella evolution and transmission are highly dependent on the performance characteristics of these methods. Past studies have shown that Salmonella serotypes can exhibit different growth characteristics in the same enrichment and selective media. This could lead not only to biased conclusions about the dominant strain present in a sample with mixed Salmonella populations, but also to a low sensitivity for detecting a Salmonella strain in a sample with only a single strain present. The objective of this study was to determine whether cultivation media select preferentially for specific strains of Salmonella in heterogeneous cultures. In this study, four different Salmonella strains (one Salmonella Newport, two Salmonella Typhimurium, and one Salmonella Enteritidis) were competed in a broth-based experiment and a bovine fecal experiment with varied combinations and concentrations of each strain. In all experiments, the strain of Salmonella Newport was the most competitive, regardless of the starting concentration and cultivation protocol. One strain of Salmonella Typhimurium was rarely detected in competition, even when it was the only strain present in bovine feces. Overall, the probability of detecting a specific Salmonella strain had little to do with its starting concentration in the sample. The bias introduced by culture could be dramatically biasing Salmonella surveillance systems and hindering traceback investigations during Salmonella outbreaks. Future studies should focus on the microbiological explanations for this Salmonella interstrain variability, approaches for minimizing the bias, and estimations of the public health significance of this bias.

Survey of Salmonella Contamination in Chicken Layer Farms in Three Caribbean Countries

2014 ◽  
Vol 77 (9) ◽  
pp. 1471-1480 ◽  
Author(s):  
ABIODUN ADESIYUN ◽  
LLOYD WEBB ◽  
LISA MUSAI ◽  
BOWEN LOUISON ◽  
GEORGE JOSEPH ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Risk Factors ◽  
Trinidad And Tobago ◽  
Salmonella Enteritidis ◽  
Disease Outbreaks ◽  
Farm Size ◽  
Minimal Risk ◽  
Poultry Production ◽  
Salmonella Infection ◽  
Salmonella Infections ◽  
The Impact

This study was conducted to investigate the demography, management, and production practices on layer chicken farms in Trinidad and Tobago, Grenada, and St. Lucia and the frequency of risk factors for Salmonella infection. The frequency of isolation of Salmonella from the layer farm environment, eggs, feeds, hatchery, and imported day-old chicks was determined using standard methods. Of the eight risk factors (farm size, age group of layers, source of day-old chicks, vaccination, sanitation practices, biosecurity measures, presence of pests, and previous disease outbreaks) for Salmonella infection investigated, farm size was the only risk factor significantly associated (P = 0.031) with the prevalence of Salmonella; 77.8% of large farms were positive for this pathogen compared with 33.3 and 26.1% of medium and small farms, respectively. The overall isolation rate of Salmonella from 35 layer farms was 40.0%. Salmonella was isolated at a significantly higher rate (P < 0.05) from farm environments than from the cloacae. Only in Trinidad and Tobago did feeds (6.5% of samples) and pooled egg contents (12.5% of samples) yield Salmonella; however, all egg samples from hotels, hatcheries, and airports in this country were negative. Salmonella Anatum, Salmonella group C, and Salmonella Kentucky were the predominant serotypes in Trinidad and Tobago, Grenada, and St. Lucia, respectively. Although Salmonella infections were found in layer birds sampled, table eggs appear to pose minimal risk to consumers. However, the detection of Salmonella-contaminated farm environments and feeds cannot be ignored. Only 2.9% of the isolates belonged to Salmonella Enteritidis, a finding that may reflect the impact of changes in farm management and poultry production in the region.

scholarly journals The resiliency of employees with intellectual and developmental disabilities during the COVID-19 pandemic and economic shutdown: A retrospective review of employment files

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-10
Author(s):  
Carol Schall ◽  
Valerie Brooke ◽  
Rachael Rounds ◽  
April Lynch
Keyword(s):  
Employment Status ◽  
Food Service ◽  
People Of Color ◽  
Hourly Wage ◽  
Intellectual And Developmental Disabilities ◽  
Hours Worked ◽  
Intellectual And Developmental Disability ◽  
Work From Home ◽  
Integrated Employment ◽  
The Impact

BACKGROUND: While the health and economic impact of COVID-19 is becoming better known among the general population, little is known about the impact of the pandemic and recession on employees with intellectual and developmental disability (IDD). PURPOSE: The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent recession on individuals with IDD. METHODS: The present paper described the impact of COVID-19 pandemic and recession on the employment status, hours worked, and hourly wage of 156 individuals with IDD who work in competitive integrated employment for February to July 2020. These findings are compared with a similar group receiving services from the same agency in February to July 2019. RESULTS: Findings indicate that these employees were not able to work from home and experienced furlough or lay off instead. Further, the number of hours worked monthly was also significantly affected. Wages were not affected by the pandemic and recession. Employees in some industries, notably health care and distribution and supplies, were less affected than employees in other industries like food service, retail, and entertainment. Finally, and surprisingly, black, indigenous, and other people of color worked more hours monthly than their white peers in both 2019 and 2020. CONCLUSION: Implications of these findings are discussed.

scholarly journals Thermal processing contaminants in foodstuffs and potential  strategies of control

2004 ◽  
Vol 22 (SI - Chem. Reactions in Foods V) ◽  
pp. S1-S10 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Studer ◽  
I. Blank ◽  
R. H Stadler
Keyword(s):  
Health Risks ◽  
Food Service ◽  
Food Product ◽  
Heterocyclic Aromatic Amines ◽  
Heat Processing ◽  
Food Container ◽  
Mechanisms Of Formation ◽  
Polycyclic Aromatic ◽  
Us Fda ◽  
The Impact

Over the past decades, researchers from academia, industry, and National authorities and enforcement laboratories, have gained increasing insight in understanding the presence, formation and potential risk to public health posed by the compounds formed during the domestic cooking and heat-processing of different foods. Compounds already intensively studied are the heterocyclic aromatic amines, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, and chloropropanols. Concrete measures have been introduced by the food industry to control certain contaminants, exemplified by the introduction of enzymatic hydrolysis of plant proteins or over-neutralization to reduce concentrations of chloropropanols in savoury flavours. The recent discovery of acrylamide in cooked foods has raised much concern, and sparked intensive scientific studies into the occurrence, analysis, exposure, mechanisms of formation, possible measures of control, and toxicology of the compound. However, since acrylamide formation is directly linked to the desired Maillard reaction that generates important flavour and aroma compounds – as well as chemicals with potentially beneficial health effects – any measures taken must assess the impact on overall quality and consumer acceptance of the food product. In addition, mitigation must be devised in such a way as not to increase the risks for other possibly more severe short and medium to long-term health risks. In this context, understanding the impact of changes in processing on the safety of foods will be of paramount importance. In May 2004 the US FDA published findings of trace levels of furan in different foods, corroborating older data and raising some concerns, albeit without reference to any health risks. Particularly canned and jarred foods that are subject to thermal treatment are apparently affected, as the volatile furan is essentially “trapped” in the food container. Analogous to the acrylamide concern, there is a paucity of knowledge in all scientific domains, i.e. exposure, methods of analysis, mechanisms of formation, toxicology. Finally, a concern that needs to be addressed is the lack of knowledge about the effects of final preparation in food service and domestic situations on the formation of processing contaminants. In essence, consumers should follow sound dietary and health advice by choosing diets based on balance, variety and moderation.

scholarly journals Knowledge Transmission in Light of Recent Transformations in the Workplace

2012 ◽  
Vol 67 (2) ◽  
pp. 304-324 ◽  
Author(s):  
Esther Cloutier ◽  
Élise Ledoux ◽  
Pierre-Sébastien Fournier
Keyword(s):  
Knowledge Sharing ◽  
Organizational Performance ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Work Teams ◽  
Health And Safety ◽  
Food Service ◽  
Experiential Knowledge ◽  
Work Intensification ◽  
Flexible Management ◽  
The Impact

In a context of changing demographics and transformations to the world of work, concerns about age management are gradually turning into concerns about knowledge management. The vast experiential knowledge and diverse skills developed by workers to cope with the numerous situations encountered in the course of their work and to protect themselves against risks to their health and safety constitute part of the intangible assets vital to the sustainability of worker expertise and even the survival of the organization. Management practices play an important role in helping safeguard experiential knowledge in organizations. However, the transformations that have been taking place in recent years in response to an unstable economic climate have driven organizations to introduce a number of changes in workplaces. Three case studies, conducted in Quebec, each focused on the study of a specific occupation (film technicians, food service helpers, and homecare nurses), and based on interviews and observations made in the field, will be presented in an effort to describe the impact of some of these changes, namely precarious employment, flexible management practices and work intensification, on knowledge sharing in real work situations. The results suggest that by undermining work teams and increasing the workload of experienced workers, these changes actually hinder the knowledge sharing process. In fact, in such a context, the work teams are continually being reconfigured, which can demotivate experienced workers who constantly have to initiate new recruits despite already having a work overload. Possible avenues for research are proposed with a view to helping organizations cope with these changes in a way that supports the experiential knowledge transfer and sharing process so vital to organizational performance and the preservation of worker health.

scholarly journals Air embolism: A rare complication of esophagogastroduodenoscopy!

2014 ◽  
Vol 05 (03) ◽  
pp. 114-115
Author(s):  
Ajay B. Jhaveri ◽  
Sharad C. Shah ◽  
Prasanna S. Shah
Keyword(s):  
Gastrointestinal Endoscopy ◽  
Rare Complication ◽  
Air Embolism ◽  
Neurological Complications ◽  
High Flow ◽  
Cerebral Air Embolism ◽  
Left Lateral Decubitus Position ◽  
Lateral Decubitus ◽  
High Index Of Suspicion ◽  
The Impact

AbstractNeurological complications of gastrointestinal endoscopy are extremely rare; cerebral air embolism has been described and can be severe and fatal. A high index of suspicion for an air embolism is a must in case of procedural or periprocedural cardiopulmonary instability and neurologic symptoms, particularly in patients with recognized risk factors. The diagnosis of an air embolism is often difficult and is complicated by the fact that air may be rapidly absorbed from the circulation. Simple maneuvers to decrease the impact of a potential air embolism include; stopping the procedure, administering high flow 100% oxygen, placing the patient in Trendelenburg and left lateral decubitus position, and discontinuing nitrous oxide. C T Scan and 2 D ECHO are important diagnostic tests.

scholarly journals Measuring the availability of “good jobs” in the United States for working-class men during the Great Recession and recovery

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janette Dill ◽  
Robert Francis
Keyword(s):  
Working Class ◽  
Great Recession ◽  
Food Service ◽  
The United States ◽  
Job Quality ◽  
Full Time ◽  
The Great Recession ◽  
Predicted Probability ◽  
Time Work ◽  
The Impact

In this study, we use the 2004, 2008, and 2014 panels of the Survey for Income and Program Participation (SIPP) to measure the impact of the Great Recession and recovery on the availability of “good jobs” for men without a college degree. We define “good jobs” using a cluster of job quality measures, including wage thresholds of at least $15, $20, or $25 per hour, employer-based health insurance, full-time work hours, and protection from layoff. We find that the Great Recession and aftermath (2008-2015) resulted in a 1-10% reduced probability of being in a “good job” across most industries, with especially large losses in manufacturing, retail, transportation, and food service (compared to 2004-2007). In the 2014 panel, there is only a slight post-recession recovery in the predicted probability of being in a “good job,” and the probability of being in a “good job” remains well below 2004 levels. Although the probability of being on layoff from a “good jobs” does decrease substantially in the 2014 cohort as compared to the rate of layoff during the Great Recession, our clustered measure of job quality shows that access to “good jobs” remains limited for most working-class men and that the recovery from the Recession has largely not reached the working-class.

scholarly journals Collaboration: the key to investigations of emerging and re-emerging diseases

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 30-36
Author(s):  
Douglas L. Hatch ◽  
Imam Z. Imam
Keyword(s):  
Scientific Work ◽  
Emerging Diseases ◽  
Control Measures ◽  
Quality Of Data ◽  
International Agencies ◽  
Effective Interventions ◽  
Extensive Field ◽  
Outbreak Investigations ◽  
And Control ◽  
The Impact

Countries need teams of well trained epidemiologists with extensive field experience to work with clinicians and laboratory scientists to conduct prompt and effective outbreak investigations of epidemics. To identify these outbreaks of possible emerging or re-emerging problems, existing surveillance must be strengthened and the quality of data validated routinely. In addition, ministry of health officials and international agencies need an open, collaborative, scientific work environment. The best environment to design effective interventions and control measures to limit the impact of these newly identified problems on the public’s health is one of cooperation and collaboration

scholarly journals Salmonella Newport Gastroenteritis in an Adult- A Rare Case Report

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Poornima Baby ◽  
Aishwarya Babu
Keyword(s):  
Bacterial Isolate ◽  
Tertiary Care ◽  
Suspected Case ◽  
Salmonella Newport ◽  
Gram Staining ◽  
Enteric Diseases ◽  
Salmonella Infections ◽  
Food Borne ◽  
Rare Case Report ◽  
Contaminated Food

Salmonella Newport is a major cause of food-borne infection which occurs due to consumption of contaminated food items. Stool sample from a suspected case of enteric fever was received in the Central Microbiology Laboratory of a tertiary care teaching hospital in Southern India. The bacterial isolate was identified on the basis of Gram Staining, cultural characteristics and biochemical reactions as Salmonella species. Agglutination for serotyping was done and it was found to be agglutinable by only Polyvalent O antiserum. For further speciation, the isolate was sent to the National Institute of Cholera and Enteric Diseases (NICED), Kolkata, West Bengal, India and was identified as Salmonella enterica serotype Newport. The patient responded well to ciprofloxacin therapy. As the diagnosis of Non-Typhoidal Salmonellosis (NTS) is often challenging, patients with suspected Salmonella infections are usually given empirical antibiotic therapy which can cause an increase in drug resistant NTS.

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