Who poisoned my food?
I am named for...
Hot reports from 2016
The law gets involved
Over and over and over
again
100
Sometimes associated with Chinese restaurants, this bacterium can produce an emetic toxin and is the culprit behind an outbreak causing nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea in more than 150 patrons of Mighty Taco restaurants in New York. State health officials said Monday evening they had isolated what organism in samples of refried beans collected from Mighty Taco locations as well as in lab samples submitted by sick people.
What is Bacillus cereus?
100
My name in Greek means "curved rod", and I am the most common cause of gastroenteritis worldwide.
What is Campylobacter?
100
Bacterial cross-contamination from surfaces to food can contribute to foodborne disease, say researchers who evaluated the cross-contamination rate of Enterobacter aerogenes. More bacterial transfer occurred during longer contact times, but the type of food and surface type also significantly impacted cross-contamination from surface to food, with some transfers taking place instantaneously, suggesting that this "rule" is untrue.
What is "the five second rule"?
100
In November, a U.S. District Judge sentenced a Miami company owner to 15 months in a federal prison for intentionally selling this product, which was known to be contaminated by Listeria monocytogenes, after he promised federal authorities he would cease distribution.
What is Mexican-style cheese?
100
A CDC study study published in the Journal of Food Protection assessed outbreaks linked to organic food, and concluded that while more data are needed to assess whether the risk is greater than for conventionally grown food, consumers should do this to avoid being sickened.
What is practice safe food handling ?
200
Kansas officials are investigating an outbreak among people who attended an annual festival at Louisburg Cider Mill, with the cause proving elusive after initial tests did not find the pathogen in the production area, finished cider or whole apples. The suspected organisms causes severe stomach cramps, diarrhea that is often bloody, vomiting, and in severe cases can lead to HUS.
What is E. coli O157:H7?
200
Superantigens can activate great numbers of these cells in a non-specific manner, ultimately leading to a cytokine storm.
What are T-cells?
200
Contact lenses may alter the natural microbial community of the eyes, according to research from the New York University School of Medicine. A study of 58 adults seeking outpatient eye care found that contact lenses make the eye microbiome more like this microbiome, with higher proportions of the bacteria Pseudomonas, Acinetobacter, Methylobacterium, and Lactobacillus and lower proportions of Haemophilus, Streptococcus, Staphylococcus, and Corynebacterium.
What is the skin microbiome?
200
Appellate court lawyers Stewart Parnell and Michael Parnell, who say they are working on “the most significant food safety case in the history of the United States", are getting a total of 3,000 additional words for their opening briefs, which were recently due at the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta. The case is related to the deadly 2008-09 Salmonella Typhimurium outbreak traced to this food.
What is peanut butter produced by the Peanut Corporation of America (PCA)?
200
“Recently, cheesemakers have raised concerns suggesting that the FDA is applying safety criteria that may, in effect, limit the production of raw milk cheese without demonstrably benefitting public health,” agency officials said in a news release. Therefore, the Food and Drug Administration has temporarily suspended its cheese testing program for what organisms, partly in response to complaints from proponents of raw milk and related products.
What is non-toxigenic E. coli?
300
In February, a congresswoman from Connecticut told the FDA “American families should not be dying from the food they eat” and asked the agency to step up its investigation of an ongoing seven-month outbreak that has killed six people eating cucumbers contaminated with this bacterium.
What is Salmonella?
300
The naming of bacteria is performed according to the binomial system introduced by Carl Linnaeus, whereby a bacterium has these two names.
What is a genus name, which indicates the genus to which it belongs, and a species epithet?
300
The abundance of microorganisms found on this city's subway system are largely from normal human skin and incapable of causing disease, according to research from the T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
What is Boston?
300
Settlement negotiations could be nearing conclusion in a federal civil case that pits consumers against Safeway Inc. in a quest for increased communication from the retailer during food recalls. The case seeks an order forcing Safeway to notify customers about recalls of food they have purchased, using this information.
What is loyalty card/frequent buyer/shoppers' club data?
300
CDC investigators are now on the scene in Flint, MI, to help track what caused the outbreak of a highly contagious, low dose dysentery caused by this destructive pathogen, with 177 cases reported between March and October.
What is Shigella?
400
In October, a British newspaper reported that tests on pork products sold at two major UK supermarket chains found three samples contaminated with a livestock strain of this methicillin-resistant bacteria.
What is Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA?
400
Bartonella, including the species henselae causing cat scratch fever, is named for this Peruvian physician.
Who is Dr. A. L. Barton?
400
For the first time in the US, a report in May described bacteria harboring the mcr-1 gene, which confers resistance to this antibiotic of last resort for treating multidrug resistant bacteria.
What is colistin, or polymyxin E?
400
The Supreme court is being asked to decide if a corporate official, without specific knowledge of a violation, can be incarcerated for the offense. After national Salmonella levels spiked in 2010, sickening as many as 56,000 according to the Centers for Disease Control and Protection, health officials found two Iowa farms were responsible for the outbreak and the plaintiffs were forced to initiate the largest recall in U.S. history of this farm product.
What are eggs?
400
Health Canada plans to suggest amendments to the country’s Food and Drug Regulations in June, which would add ground beef to the list of foods permitted to undergo what treatment to prevent E. coli O157:H7 and other pathogenic microbes-related diseases, before being sold?
What is radiation treatment?
500
In June, snack products from Ontario-based SunOpta Inc. continued to be recalled because of potential contamination of sunflower kernels by this bacterium.
What is Listeria monocytogenes?
500
The genus Klebsiella is named for the German-Swiss pathologist, Theodor Albrecht Edwin Klebs, who also discovered this bacterium causing diphtheria.
What is Corynebacterium diphtheriae?
500
Elevated levels of Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus epidermidis, bacteria that are known to induce double-stranded breaks in DNA in HeLa cells, were found to be associated with tissues of patients diagnosed with this type of cancer, while beneficial bacteria are more abundant in healthy tissues, and may actually protect from cancer.
What is breast cancer?
500
In New York State, physicians, laboratories, nursing homes, hospitals and other facilities providing health services are required to report suspected and confirmed cases of this disease, causing pneumonia in high risk individuals such as those 50 years of age or older, current or former smokers, those with a chronic lung disease, and immunocompromised individuals.
What is Legionella pneumophila?
500
About 10,000 people have died and hundreds of thousands have been sickened in this country since cholera first appeared in 2010 after an earthquake, with annual spikes now recurring, especially after seasonal hurricanes.
What is Haiti?
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