Eight cases of bacterial illness linked to Country Fair.Byline: Jill Aho The Register-Guard The number of people presumed to have contracted the shigella shigella Any of the rod-shaped bacteria that make up the genus Shigella, which are normal inhabitants of the human intestinal tract and can cause dysentery, or shigellosis. Shigellae are gram-negative (see gram stain), non-spore-forming, stationary bacteria. S. bacteria at the Oregon Country Fair The Oregon Country Fair (OCF) is a three-day fair that takes place yearly beginning on the Friday of the second weekend in July in Veneta, Oregon, approximately 15 miles west of Eugene, with an attendance of approximately 45,000 over the three day period, with attendance peaking has climbed to eight, a Lane County Public Health official said on Tuesday. Two of the eight cases involve people who do not live in Lane County but visited the fair near Veneta this month. Many people called the public health office after the two first cases were publicized pub·li·cize tr.v. pub·li·cized, pub·li·ciz·ing, pub·li·ciz·es To give publicity to. Adj. 1. publicized - made known; especially made widely known publicised last week, public health nurse Martha DeBroekert said. To be considered part of the outbreak, people had to have been sick with diarrhea diarrhea (dīərē`ə), frequent discharge of watery feces from the intestines, sometimes containing blood and mucus. It can be caused by excessive indulgence in alcohol or other liquids or foods that prove irritating to the stomach or lasting more than 48 hours, and had to have attended the fair between July 10-13 and fallen ill between one and four days after attending. Other symptoms of infection include fever and stomach cramps that can begin one or two days after exposure, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. the Centers for Disease Control. "It's already been two weeks," DeBroekert said. "People aren't still going to be getting sick who were at the fair." But that doesn't mean the food-borne illness Food-borne illness A disease that is transmitted by eating or handling contaminated food. Mentioned in: Campylobacteriosis, Shigellosis isn't still being spread, which is why public health officials are still working to track down a source. "With as many food booths and things going on at the fair, and just eight cases, I don't know Don't know (DK, DKed) "Don't know the trade." A Street expression used whenever one party lacks knowledge of a trade or receives conflicting instructions from the other party. if we're going to find anything significant," DeBroekert said. Most people get over the disease in a few days, she said, while others do not show any symptoms at all. Shigella is most commonly spread when someone with the bacteria fails to wash his hands properly after using the bathroom and then prepares, serves or eats food. Lane County Environmental Health Supervisor Jeff Lang said last week that he believes that the Country Fair did everything it could to ensure food safety. "They go above and beyond what's required by Oregon law," he said. Shigella is reported in Lane County almost every year, with 14 cases reported in 2005, 2006, and 2007 combined. |
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