Green Onions Linked to Hepatitis Outbreak

[Guest guest]

Just an FYI,

Folks are being warned to, at least for the moment, cook green onions

before eating them.

 

Have a great weekend folks, be safe and be healthy

 

*Smile*

Chris (list mom)

 

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A Chocolate Lover's Lip Balm Making Kit!

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Green Onions Linked to Hepatitis Outbreak

http://start.earthlink.net/newsarticle?cat=0

<http://start.earthlink.net/newsarticle?cat=0 & aid=D7UV4RA00_story>

& aid=D7UV4RA00_story

November 21, 2003 12:38 PM EST

 

BEAVER, Pa. - Green onions were the likely source of a deadly hepatitis

A outbreak at a Mexican restaurant last month, but the origin of the

onions and how they were tainted remains unclear, state health officials

said Friday.

 

" All the evidence suggests that people had direct contact with the green

onions, " said Joel Hersh, director of epidemiology for the Pennsylvania

Department of Health.

 

The outbreak, which has killed three people and sickened at least 575,

is the nation's largest ever from a single source - a Chi-Chi's

restaurant at the Beaver Valley Mall, about 25 miles northwest of

Pittsburgh.

 

Most of the hepatitis A cases were traced to people who ate mild salsa

or one of two particular entrees, which will be identified in an

official report expected to be issued later Friday, health officials

said.

 

The restaurant's hot salsa is packaged before it arrives at Chi-Chi's,

but the mild salsa is made partly on site, health officials said.

 

Health officials in Pennsylvania initially suspected that Chi-Chi's

employees had failed to wash their hands before handling food or

utensils - the other common way besides raw food that the disease is

spread.

 

But shortly after the outbreak was confirmed Nov. 3, the Food and Drug

Administration issued a national advisory that to ensure safety,

purchased green onions should be cooked and not eaten raw.

 

It is not known whether the green onions behind the Pennsylvania

outbreak are linked to those already known to have caused smaller

outbreaks of hepatitis A in Tennessee and Georgia in September.

 

The FDA announced Thursday that it has traced green onions in those

outbreaks to three Mexican suppliers and is inspecting all green onion

shipments from them.

 

The agency is still trying to trace the source of the onions in the

Pennsylvania outbreak and another in North Carolina in September.

 

Health officials have said the strain of hepatitis found in Pennsylvania

is very similar to the one in the Tennessee and Georgia cases.

 

The number of victims announced Friday by Dr. Calvin Johnson, the state

Health Secretary, included 35 additional cases. The numbers of new

diagnoses are declining, he said.

 

People who were sickened said they ate at the restaurant between Sept.

14 and Oct. 18, though investigators were verifying those accounts by

checking credit card records.

 

Each year, 125,000 to 200,000 people contract hepatitis A, an infection

that attacks the liver. Symptoms include fever, nausea, diarrhea,

jaundice, fatigue, abdominal pain and loss of appetite. Hepatitis A

usually clears up in about two months, but the antibody shots greatly

reduce the chances of contracting the disease if given within 14 days

after exposure.

 

More than 9,100 people received antibody shots in the Pennsylvania

outbreak, health officials said.

 

Officials still can't explain why the Pennsylvania outbreak was so much

broader than previous ones, though it may simply be because the

Chi-Chi's served so many meals - 11,000 in October, state health

officials said.

 

More than 250 people got hepatitis A at more than a dozen Georgia

restaurants in September, and 80 were infected at one restaurant near

Knoxville, Tenn., about the same time.

 

At least eight people were sickened after eating green onions at a

restaurant in North Carolina in September, according to the Centers for

Disease Control and Prevention. The FDA is also still trying to trace

the source of those onions, CDC officials said Friday.

 

Even before the FDA issued its green onion advisory on Nov. 15, the

Louisville, Ky.-based chain had pulled green onions from 99 other

restaurants in 17 states from Minnesota to the Mid-Atlantic. The

Chi-Chi's at Beaver Valley Mall remains closed. Taco Bell has pulled

scallions from some 6,000 American outlets, though there have been no

reports of hepatitis A at those stores.

 

Chi-Chi's filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Oct. 8 in a move

unrelated to the outbreak. The chain on Thursday asked a bankruptcy

judge for permission to spend $500,000 on an insurance deductible to

free up as much as $51 million in liability insurance. The restaurant

hopes to use the money to settle out-of-court claims for medical bills,

lost wages and other expenses brought by those sickened in Pennsylvania.

 

 

A bankruptcy judge could rule on that request as early as Friday.

 

---

 

On the Net:

 

Health department: http://www.dsf.health.state.pa.us

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

At 01:05 PM 11/21/2003 -0600, you wrote:

>Just an FYI,

>Folks are being warned to, at least for the moment, cook green onions

>before eating them.

>

>Have a great weekend folks, be safe and be healthy

 

Well, since green onions aka scallions are a green herb, and very good for

your health, it is very appropriate to bring this up on this group :-)

 

Now, Chris, git yerself to a feed store and git some onion bulbs. Make a

furrow around the ant hills and plant yerself some o'them baby onions, and

y'all l'have yer own scallions in a short time. Welcome to the winter

growing zone!

 

I have red, yellow and white bulbs in the ground, and the little cuties are

sprouting. Got them in a little late this year, so I'll have scallions by

Christmas, not Thanksgiving, and onions by Easter :-) (that is if any last

that long!)

http://member.newsguy.com/~herblady