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The tragedy of deaths of children linked to undercooked hamburgers in Washington State in January 1993 once again puts the spotlight on food safety. State epidemiologists and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) identified the illnesses in Washington, along with others in California, Nevada, and Idaho, as caused by Escherichia coli (known as E. coli) O157:H7. This bacterium has been linked to a variety of reservoirs including, as in this outbreak, undercooked ground beef. More than 500 laboratory-confirmed illnesses and 4 deaths occurred during this outbreak.
The January 1993 E. coli outbreak in the Western States demonstrates the difficulty of identifying the incidence of foodborne disease and the need for mandatory reporting or new data collection systems. The CDC reported: "Despite the magnitude of this outbreak, the problem may not have been recognized in three States if the epidemiological link had not been established in Washington (State)."
E. COLI O157:H7 ESTIMATED TO AFFLICT 3-8 OF EVERY 100,000 PEOPLE...
Human illnesses from E. coli O157:H7 are greatly underreported, as are other bacterial food-borne diseases. Beef (primarily ground beef) has been linked as the vehicle for about half the outbreaks of E. coli O157:H7 reported to CDC in the last decade. Unpasteurized apple cider, unpasteurized milk, water, raw potatoes, turkey roll, and mayonnaise have also been associated with E. coli O157:H7 outbreaks.
This article analyzes the costs associated with this condition. The study is based on a CDC survey of the medical literature on the history of infections caused by E. coli 0157:H7 during the last decade. These studies have found the incidence to be 3 to 8 per 100,000 Americans annually (table 1). (Table 1 omitted) Multiplied by the U.S. population of 255.6 million in 1992, this incidence results in 7,668 to 20,448 people annually with E. coli 0157:H7 caused illnesses.
In addition to the tragedy of the illnesses, there are economic costs or losses associated with all foodborne diseases. Estimating the costs is technically difficult for many reasons, but is necessary to allow targeting of pathogen reduction efforts and to find the most costeffective way of dealing with the pathogens.
USDA's Economic Research Service (ERS) has estimated the medical costs and productivity losses that can be expected to occur from E. coIi 0157:H7...