Hepatitis Outbreak Surging

http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/thrive/2003/nov/15/111509066.html ^

[flamefront]

are toast -- as in bankrupt?

That happenned Oct 9th.

[FITZ]

This practice has stuck with me until this day. I seem to get sick less often, especially since I am protecting myself from contact with other people's germs.

But that's part of the problem now --- Americans have been isolated from many of the third world diseases until now --- many areas of the USA have had no exposure to hepatitis A and many other diseases, there is no immunity built up so when the third world people move in, there is a very susceptible population. In the SW-USA, there are already a lot of people who have been exposed to Hepatitis A and have natural immunity against it.

[dansangel]

What is the answer....inoculation before illness? I still would not want to risk exposure just to build up a natural immunity. I'd probably be the "lucky one" to die from it.

Seriously, perhaps this will force inoculation much like we were forced to take the "polio drink" in school as youngsters. Because of this polio was nearly eradicated in this country. What are your thoughts on this?

[dansangel]

You could have eaten off any surface in her house, and she was after us kids to wash our hands constantly - it's a wonder we didn't wash 'em right off.

My parents and grandparents were and are the same way. I think it had a lot to do with the death and disease my grandparents were exposed to in Italy before coming here.

I think it's a healthy and common sense practice.

[AnAmericanMother]

Absolutely, and as far as acquired immunity goes, you can't keep kids clean on a constant basis (though lord knows Nana tried . . . ) Kids'll pick up enough germs on the dirt in the yard and at school to keep their immune systems nicely challenged.

Italy (at least in the south, esp. around Naples) is just about as generally filthy a place as I have ever encountered. There's an awfully casual attitude towards hygiene and garbage disposal . . . northern Italy is not so bad. Must be proximity to Germany, or something.

[dansangel]

My roots are in Northern Italy, so that 'splains it.

:-)

[AnAmericanMother]

My dad LOVED northern Italy, even though he saw it under disadvantages (esp. in the winter of '43-44). He boarded with a family in the Po valley for awhile, learned to cook northern Italian food (he is an excellent cook which is a good thing as we would have starved to death if my mother had been responsible for food.) He speaks a very regional and colloquial Italian which he picked up at the time, he's also small and dark and very animated in his speech, which leads everyone to think he's Italian (he's actually a Southerner of Black Scot and Irish extraction).

He and Mom went back to Italy in '02 for a 50 year anniversary Battlefield Tour. They started at Anzio and visited all the places dad fought. They had a marvelous time, and everyone was so glad to see them, it was like a huge family reunion. And all dad's Italian came flooding back after he'd been there three days.

[browardchad]

No way it was fertilizer on the onions. If it was, why weren't any contaminated onions delivered to any other restaurant or grocery anywhere? Why only Chi-Chi's?

An exclusive supplier -- either a processor or grower. I once met someone who had a business supplying chopped lettuce to MacDonald's, and MacDonald's only.

What I don't understand is why it's taking so long to nail it down. Over 500 infected, thousands exposed and they say they don't have a clue; something smells, and it's not green onions.

[dansangel]

Your Dad must speak the same dialect as my family. I was told that whatever dialect it was, my family would have a difficult time communicating with anyone south of Rome.

My paternal grandfather was from Anzio.

We are all tall (I'm 5'10"), light-haired and light-skinned - very definitely "non-stereotype." My maternal grandfather (from Calabrese) was blonde-haired and blue-eyed - definitely some Germanic intrusion along the way. My nephews are 6'5" and 6'6".

I am proud of my heritage, but I do not consider myself a "hyphenated" American. I am fiercely proud of being an American, descended from grandparents who came over here, worked hard, learned the language, became naturalized citizens and, in one case, started a successful business.

I'm so glad that your folks enjoyed their respective stays/visit to Italy.

[freeperfromnj]

FDA inspecting Mexican onion shipments

By JOE MANDAK
The Associated Press
11/21/2003, 10:03 a.m. ET

PITTSBURGH (AP) — The Food and Drug Administration is inspecting green onions imported from three Mexican companies that have been linked to hepatitis A cases in Tennessee and Georgia and possibly to the Pennsylvania outbreak that killed three people.

The FDA reiterated Thursday that it is still working to trace various foods that were shipped to a Chi-Chi's restaurant in Beaver County, Pa., where hepatitis A has been blamed for sickening 540 people.

The Pennsylvania Health Department scheduled a news conference Friday to announce the cause of that outbreak. Officials have already said green onions are suspected. The FDA and other authorities haven't determined where the onions served at the Pennsylvania restaurant came from.

As a precaution, Louisville, Ky.-based Chi-Chi's earlier this month pulled green onions from its other 99 restaurants in 17 states stretching from Minnesota to the mid-Atlantic. The restaurant in Beaver County remains closed. Taco Bell has pulled green onions, also known as scallions, from some 6,000 American outlets, even though there have been no reports of hepatitis A at those stores.

The FDA is still trying to trace where green onions linked to a hepatitis A outbreak in North Carolina came from, too, and is working with the Centers for Disease control and Mexican authorities to determine possible links between the recent hepatitis A outbreaks and green onions imported from that country.

The FDA did not release the name of the three Mexican companies.

Shortly after the Pennsylvania outbreak was confirmed on Nov. 3, the FDA issued a national advisory that green onions bought from any source should be cooked and not eaten raw, to increase their safety.

In September, about 280 people in Georgia and Tennessee were sickened by contaminated green onions, including 210 people who ate at restaurants in the Atlanta area.

[freetradenotfree]

Welcome to Free Trade

[AnAmericanMother]

Dad has always had fun in Italian restaurants in this country! Back in the day when most such restaurants here in GA were still run by immigrants (now they're run by corporations), he and the proprietor would usually wind up sharing a bottle of Chianti and having a great time. He also is a big fan of Italian opera, and one of my favorite childhood memories is an impromptu Rossini duet sung by my dad (bass/baritone) and the owner (tenor) in between the tables of a restaurant (wish I could remember which duet, and which restaurant. Pretty sure it was Rossini.)

[NYC GOP Chick]

Well, I once got Hepatitis A from some restaurant and it had nothing to do with free trade...

[freetradenotfree]

What!! Wake-up

[freetradenotfree]

FDA bans scallions linked to hepatitis A outbreak
11/20/2003 8:28 PM
By: Associated Press

WASHINGTON -- Mexican scallions from companies linked to outbreaks of hepatitis A are getting held at the U.S. border.

The Food and Drug Administration said investigators implicated raw green onions from three firms.

It said products from those companies are being held for investigation.

The liver infections occurred in Tennessee and Georgia last September.

FDA also said it is looking into the source of the latest outbreak of hepatitis A, the largest known in U.S. history.

It left three dead and sickened more than 540 people who'd eaten at a now-closed Chi-Chi's Mexican restaurant in western Pennsylvania

[NYC GOP Chick]

Well, I have no idea if I got it from imported food or not.

[dansangel]

Sounds like fun. :-)

My fondest memories are of the delicious smells coming out of either grandmother's kitchens. I have to say I'm a bit of a snob when it comes to Italian restaurants and refuse to eat in many of the chains.

One local "chain" - Ippolito's - we have found to be awfully good.

[AnAmericanMother]

Here the local chain restaurant is Carabbas, and it's really not bad at all. It's sort of a modified Italian-American cuisine, more northern than southern. The ingredients are extremely fresh and that makes a lot of difference. La Grotta, however, is still the best place in Atlanta for traditional Italian food. It's in the basement of an old apartment building on Peachtree and has been there for 30 years.

[dansangel]

Carabba's is on my "acceptable" list. Have had delightful meals at the one at Gwinnett Mall and also down in Macon.

Have heard of La Grotta, but tend to avoid travel in Atlanta proper at all costs. I'm not fond of crowds and traffic. :-(

[AnAmericanMother]

La Grotta is worth a trip. It's definitely a white-tablecloth and crystal sort of place, so be warned, but the food is worth having to dress up and mind my manners . . . :-D