Shiloh
Editor, Senior Moderator
Source: http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2016/12/news-scan-dec-14-2016
News Scan for Dec 14, 2016
Zika in Miami, Texas; Fine for Salmonella in peanuts
Filed Under:
Zika; Foodborne Disease; Salmonella
[h=3]Two new local Zika cases confirmed in Miami Beach[/h] The Florida Department of Health (Florida Health) reported two new locally acquired Zika cases in Miami-Dade County residents yesterday, while the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued guidance for Brownsville, Tex., after state officials recently reported five local cases there, the first in the state.
Regarding the new Florida cases, Florida Health said it is investigating where the people were exposed. The department also noted a new report of an undetermined case in a patient who was exposed to the virus in both Miami-Dade County and another local transmission area.
Florida Health said these cases do not affect the lifting of any previous zones of active transmission in Miami-Dade County. On Dec 9, Governor Rick Scott said active transmission had ceased in South Miami Beach, after 45 days with no new cases.
To date, there have been 251 locally acquired Zika infections in Florida, and 16 cases in which the area of exposure has been undetermined.
Dec 13 Florida Health update
Dec 9 CIDRAP News story "Zika zones end in Florida as Texas reports 4 new cases"
In Texas, the CDC issued travel and testing guidance for Brownsville, in Cameron County, and designated the city as a Zika cautionary area, which it depicts in yellow on outbreak maps.
The reporting of the recent cases "suggests that there may be a risk of continued spread of Zika virus and therefore pregnant women are at some risk for Zika virus infection," the CDC said in a news release.
Dec 14 CDC news release
[h=3]ConAgra to pay $11 million for 2006 peanut Salmonella outbreak[/h] A ConAgra subsidiary yesterday agreed to pay an $11.2 million fine as it pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor for its role in a 47-state Salmonella outbreak in 2006, the Associated Press (AP) reported yesterday.
The outbreak sickened at least 625 people, and public health professionals traced the Salmonella to a plant in Sylvester, Ga., that produced peanut butter for ConAgra under the Peter Pan label and the Great Value brand. In 2007, the company recalled all the peanut butter it had sold since 2004.
The total penalty includes an $8 million criminal fine, the largest such fine ever imposed for a US foodborne disease case. The company will also pay $3.2 million in cash forfeitures to the federal government. None of the criminal penalty will go toward outbreak patients, however, as US District Court Judge W. Louis Sands ruled yesterday that none of the 150 people who filed for compensation adequately proved that their illness was caused by eating the recalled peanut butter.
Dec 13 AP story
News Scan for Dec 14, 2016
Zika in Miami, Texas; Fine for Salmonella in peanuts
Filed Under:
Zika; Foodborne Disease; Salmonella
[h=3]Two new local Zika cases confirmed in Miami Beach[/h] The Florida Department of Health (Florida Health) reported two new locally acquired Zika cases in Miami-Dade County residents yesterday, while the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued guidance for Brownsville, Tex., after state officials recently reported five local cases there, the first in the state.
Regarding the new Florida cases, Florida Health said it is investigating where the people were exposed. The department also noted a new report of an undetermined case in a patient who was exposed to the virus in both Miami-Dade County and another local transmission area.
Florida Health said these cases do not affect the lifting of any previous zones of active transmission in Miami-Dade County. On Dec 9, Governor Rick Scott said active transmission had ceased in South Miami Beach, after 45 days with no new cases.
To date, there have been 251 locally acquired Zika infections in Florida, and 16 cases in which the area of exposure has been undetermined.
Dec 13 Florida Health update
Dec 9 CIDRAP News story "Zika zones end in Florida as Texas reports 4 new cases"
In Texas, the CDC issued travel and testing guidance for Brownsville, in Cameron County, and designated the city as a Zika cautionary area, which it depicts in yellow on outbreak maps.
The reporting of the recent cases "suggests that there may be a risk of continued spread of Zika virus and therefore pregnant women are at some risk for Zika virus infection," the CDC said in a news release.
Dec 14 CDC news release
[h=3]ConAgra to pay $11 million for 2006 peanut Salmonella outbreak[/h] A ConAgra subsidiary yesterday agreed to pay an $11.2 million fine as it pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor for its role in a 47-state Salmonella outbreak in 2006, the Associated Press (AP) reported yesterday.
The outbreak sickened at least 625 people, and public health professionals traced the Salmonella to a plant in Sylvester, Ga., that produced peanut butter for ConAgra under the Peter Pan label and the Great Value brand. In 2007, the company recalled all the peanut butter it had sold since 2004.
The total penalty includes an $8 million criminal fine, the largest such fine ever imposed for a US foodborne disease case. The company will also pay $3.2 million in cash forfeitures to the federal government. None of the criminal penalty will go toward outbreak patients, however, as US District Court Judge W. Louis Sands ruled yesterday that none of the 150 people who filed for compensation adequately proved that their illness was caused by eating the recalled peanut butter.
Dec 13 AP story