Blog Post #7: Recent Listeria Outbreak, Deadliest in Years

A
listeria outbreak that occurred earlier this month that has been
linked to 116 infected people, 23 of which died, is now being
referred as the deadliest food-borne outbreak illness in the U.S. In
the last 25 years. An outbreak in 1998 killed 21 people and one in
1985 killed 52. This latest outbreak was caused by tainted Colorado
cantaloupes. Deaths have occurred in Louisiana, Colorado, Indiana,
Kansas, Maryland, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York, Oklahoma,
Texas, and Wyoming. Once all the contaminated cantaloupes were
removed from the market, the strain of listeria was linked to
equipment and cantaloupe samples at Jensen Farms' packing facility in
Colorado. Though the outbreak is unknown, the FDA is looking at the
farm's water supply and animal intrusion as a possible source.
Listeria is rare and more deadly than salmonella and E. coli,
however, most adults can consume the pathogen with no health effects.
Elderly, people with compromised immune systems, and pregnancy women
are most at risk. The average age of those who got sick was 78; most
were over 60 years of age.

In
today's age, we usually don't have to worry about the food we buy at
grocery stores or the farmers market having any deadly viruses,
bacteria, or anything harmful. We have programs like the FDA that set
standards that make our food and medicines safe to consume. However,
sometimes things like this recent listeria outbreak occur. But we
have to resources and abilities to quickly track down the cause,
remove all infected items, and provide the victims with effective
healthcare. People in other parts of the world, however, are not this
fortunate. They don't have government agencies monitoring the quality
of food, let alone the quality of life. The distribution of quality
of life around the is astonishing. When we in the US have everything
and anything to make life as easy and comfortable as possible at out
fingertips, people in rural China and Africa have very little
compared to us. Where we have vaccines to cure/prevent polio and TB,
people around the world continue to die on daily basis because these
and other already cured diseases simply because they don't have
access to it. This is a huge social problem being addressed by many
organizations from around the world.

http://health.yahoo.net/news/s/ap/us_cantaloupe_listeria