JAPANESE CITY WEIGHS UNPALATABLE OPTIONS IN HALTING E. COLI OUTBREAK.Byline: Braven Smillie Associated Press Associated Press: see news agency. Associated Press (AP) Cooperative news agency, the oldest and largest in the U.S. and long the largest in the world. Hardest-hit by Japan's food poisoning food poisoning, acute illness following the eating of foods contaminated by bacteria, bacterial toxins, natural poisons, or harmful chemical substances. It was once customary to classify all such illnesses as "ptomaine poisoning," but it was later discovered that outbreak, the city of Sakai on Saturday recommended treating hundreds of residents with a controversial antibiotic therapy to keep them from spreading the infection. The O157 strain of E. coli E. coli: see Escherichia coli. E. coli in full Escherichia coli Species of bacterium that inhabits the stomach and intestines. E. coli can be transmitted by water, milk, food, or flies and other insects. bacteria has killed at least seven people over the past two months, sickening thousands and sending hundreds to hospitals. The number of victims, which has been increasing by 100 a day, neared 8,700 - with nearly 6,500 of them in Sakai. All but 200 of the Sakai victims are schoolchildren schoolchildren school npl → écoliers mpl; (at secondary school) → collégiens mpl; lycéens mpl schoolchildren school , and authorities suspect tainted school lunches prompted the outbreak. To prevent the spread of the highly infectious bacteria, Sakai health officials want to give antibiotics to 400 people who are infected with the bacteria but don't yet show symptoms of illness, 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. Takashi Kitahara, a member of a government task force handling the outbreak. The treatment is controversial because while it kills the O157 bacteria, it releases toxins into the body that could make the people sick. Still, Sakai authorities hope that reducing the number of bacteria in infected people will keep them from passing it on to others. Kitahara said authorities in the city, 300 miles west of Tokyo, are considering distributing the drugs at no charge. The bacteria attaches to the intestinal lining, emitting poison that causes bloody diarrhea and flu-like symptoms. It takes about a week for the symptoms to appear. Medicine cannot cure the infection, so doctors can only treat the symptoms while waiting for the body's immune system immune system Cells, cell products, organs, and structures of the body involved in the detection and destruction of foreign invaders, such as bacteria, viruses, and cancer cells. Immunity is based on the system's ability to launch a defense against such invaders. to eliminate the bacteria. Quarantine has been ruled out as a way to stop the spread because there isn't enough hospital space and many of those infected probably don't realize it yet, said another task force official, Toru Nishioka. Though the outbreak has been linked to tainted school lunches, authorities are still trying to pinpoint the type of food that is carrying the bacteria. The government said it had contacted U.S. officials, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), agency of the U.S. Public Health Service since 1973, with headquarters in Atlanta; it was established in 1946 as the Communicable Disease Center. and the National Institutes of Health, for advice about treatment. |
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