Iowa officials offer safety reminders in wake of deadly European E. coli outbreak

Chances of the deadly E. coli strain making its way to Iowa from Germany are slim, but state health authorities say the recent European outbreak provides a stark reminder about the need for precautions, especially at this time of year.

The outbreak had killed 17 people as of Thursday, June 2, according to media reports, with more than 1,500 sickened, mainly in the Hamburg area of Germany.

Authorities were reporting the E. coli bacterium was a new strain that seemed to have the DNA of two different strains, said state epidemiologist Patricia Quinlisk, who like others in her field, was tapped into reports about the outbreak.

Two cases potentially tied to the European outbreak in American travelers returning from Germany were not in Iowa, she said.

No confirmed source had been found, but officials in Germany are warning people to not eat cucumbers, lettuce and tomatoes.

While Iowa has been affected by outbreaks traced to contaminated vegetables in the past, Quinlisk said, “with individual cases in Iowa, it often goes back to ground meats.”

Summer is the common time when people become sickened, she said, typically when grilled hamburgers are undercooked.

Ground beef, pork, turkey, chicken and other meats all have the potential to be contaminated with E. coli, salmonella or other pathogens, Quinlisk noted.

She recommended using a food thermometer and cooks all of her meat to 165 degrees to be on the safe side.

In the past decade, Iowa has averaged more than 100 cases of E. coli annually, with a peak of 222 in 2008.

So far this year, 28 cases have been reported.

Symptoms include diarrhea, which can be bloody, and stomach cramps. Some patients develop kidney damage.

Quinlisk said it was unlikely that anyone returning to the United States from Europe would spread the outbreak here.

A person would have to become sickened with diarrhea and then prepare food for others without proper handwashing, she said. That points to the importance of thorough hand washing and not preparing food for others when ill.

Quinlisk said another precaution is remembering to wash fresh produce.

Mike Pentella, associate director of University Hygienic Laboratory, said it's important for people who experience symptoms to comply with their doctors orders if asked to submit a stool sample.

The Coralville-based lab tests those specimens – last year there were 1,096 – which help in identifying a source and stopping outbreaks, he said.

“When you know what the pathogen is, you know what you have to prevent,” he said. “Then you know what food needs to be recalled and what actions to take.”

Pentella said the DNA “fingerprints” of Iowa cases go into the same database as the European cases.

“We are linked through that international connection to PulseNet,” he said, referring to the database.

Because of that, Pentella said, “we know there are no cases in Iowa” connected to the European outbreak.

He noted that people traveling to Germany or elsewhere should look up travel precautions listed on the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website at:

www.cdc.gov/travel