California Restaurant Source of Shigella - Number of Cases Continues to Climb

UPDATE (10/23/15)- Within a few days, the number of Shigella cases linked to a California restaurant continues to climb.  Reports now have the number at 110 cases in 4 different California Counties.

10/20/15
A California restaurant is being held responsible for up to 80 people becoming infected with Shigella with about a dozen becoming hospitalized.  Because this is a highly contagious bacterial infection, a number of secondary infections are beginning to arise. (People who are contracting the disease from someone who ate at the restaurant).

Shigella causes severe diarrhea, sometimes bloody, as well as fever and abdominal pain. Symptoms will occur within a day or two after infection and will last 5 to 7 days.  It is highly infectious, only requiring less than 20 cells to cause infection.  It spreads through contact with food or person to person which can be problematic when someone has profuse diarrhea and does not wash their hands or washes their hand insufficiently. 

 

Glove usage handling ready-to-eat foods would help...but that is not a law in CA.  In 2014, California repealed the law requiring glove usage to prevent bare hand contact with ready-to-eat food.

Getting sick workers to stay home is another issue.  Many people will still go to work even if they are ill.

 

 

CDC Announcement - October 15th is Global Handwashing Day

While many may scoff, or even mock, those federal officials for putting such effort into creating a 'day' for such a menial task as handwashing, perhaps this is an opportunity to remind all those who handle food of the importance of handwashing.  You may even want to go as far as having a handwashing retraining event....A Handwashing Celebration Extravaganza!

SHOW US THOSE CLEAN HANDS!


CDC News Release
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm6439a10.htm?s_cid=mm6439a10_e
Announcement: Global Handwashing Day — October 15, 2015
Weekly
October 9, 2015 / 64(39);1124

October 15, 2015, marks the 8th annual Global Handwashing Day. This observance increases awareness and understanding of handwashing with soap as an effective and affordable way to prevent disease around the world.

Senator Suggests Regulations Requiring Handwashing Not Needed

A NC Senator thinks that it should not be the governments job to have regulations requiring handwashing in food service operations. 

There are some dumb regulations, but regulations such as this that set a minimum bar for food safety,  in this case, requiring food service employees to wash their hands, is.....good.  Why would someone pick such a poor example to fight overregulation...perhaps he is not a handwasher and this is the example that first comes to mind when he thinks about deregulation.  Wouldn't want to eat at his house.

For a good sound mocking, we have this Daily Show clip.
http://thedailyshow.cc.com/videos/yikssr/mr--unclean


Charlotte Observerhttp://www.charlotteobserver.com/2015/02/03/5491207/sen-tillis-maybe-restaurants-shouldnt.html#.VNJyck10x9A
Sen. Tillis: Maybe restaurants shouldn’t require hand-washing

Posted: Wednesday, Feb. 04, 2015

Congressional Republicans are challenging several health regulations, with one senator suggesting restaurants shouldn’t have to make their employees wash their hands after bathroom visits.

Such restaurants would have to prominently disclose their decision, and then would probably would go out of business, said newly elected GOP Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina. But they should have that choice, he said.

Bacteria in the Restroom - Pondering Succession and Stability

Did you ever wonder about the bacteria on the surfaces in the restroom?  Well, you probably figured there were bacteria there (and thus you use your foot to flush the commode), but hopefully you pondered deeper thoughts rather than postulating bacterial succession on the floor as well as the seat in which you sit.

Well some did ponder such questions, completed a study and published those results (Ecological Succession and Viability of Human-Associated Microbiota on Restroom Surfaces).  They showed that the ecological succession of bacterial populations does occur and that in general, a stable community does occur after 8 hours, and is made up of skin and environmental organisms rather than gut microorganisms.

"The prevalence of skin-associated, rather than feces-associated taxa, in the late-successional community suggests that organisms are selected for their ability to persist in a dry, aerobic environment, which is a very different environment from the gut. Human-associated microbiota, including Staphylococcus strains, can remain viable on BE surfaces for many hours after their dispersal [cleaning] agents are removed. This suggests that common BE surfaces may be significant fomites for viable human pathogens."

Handwashing - How many are actually improperly washing?

In a recently released study, researchers found that only 5 percent of people wash their hands correctly. While the study does point out that many people do not wash their hands correctly, the reported 5% seems lower than what we would expect. There may be a few issues with the study.

1) The US Food Code states that proper scrubbing of hands is 10 to 15 seconds (total handwashing time is 20 seconds), while the study uses 15 to 20 seconds. (http://www.fda.gov/Food/GuidanceRegulation/RetailFoodProtection/FoodCode/ucm181242.htm)

2) All observations were conducted on a college town. Perhaps not a great cross-section of the general public.

3) The study was conducted by visual observation – someone standing around in the restroom watching others….now, if  some creeper is hanging out in a bathroom and staring at you, are you going to move on a little quicker than normal and rewash later?

Only 5 Percent of Restroom Patrons Wash Hands Properly, Study Finds

And 1 in 10 don't scrub up at all after flushinghttp://health.usnews.com/health-news/news/articles/2013/06/11/only-5-percent-of-restroom-patrons-wash-hands-properly-study-finds

USNews Health June 11, 2013 RSS Feed Print

TUESDAY, June 11 (HealthDay News) -- The next time you reach out to shake someone's hand, consider this finding: A recent study of hand-washing habits found only 5 percent of people who used the restroom scrubbed long enough to kill germs that can cause infections.
Thirty-three percent didn't use soap, and 10 percent didn't wash their hands at all, according to the study, based on Michigan State University researchers' observations of more than 3,700 people in a college town's public restrooms.

"These findings were surprising to us because past research suggested that proper hand washing is occurring at a much higher rate," lead investigator Carl Borchgrevink, an associate professor of hospitality business, said in a university news release.

Among the other findings:

Men were less likely than women to clean their hands. Fifteen percent of men and 7 percent of women didn't wash their hands at all. When they did wash their hands, only 50 percent of men used soap, compared with 78 percent of women.
People were less likely to wash their hands if the sink was dirty.
People were more likely to wash their hands earlier in the day. This may be because when people are out at night for a meal or drinks, they are relaxed and hand washing becomes less important, the researchers suggested.
People were more likely to wash their hands if they saw a sign encouraging them to do so.