Bugs Amongst Us
I am very busy at work, people. You know that Salmonella outbreak that has been going on for awhile now nationwide, the one that allegedly involved the tomatoes and now they're investigating other vegetables? (Who says that being a vegetarian is better for your health?) Investigating stuff like that is what I do for a living. I work on the people side of things, meaning that I don’t analyze fruits and vegetables. I analyze what the sick people and their friends and coworkers are shedding in their bodily substances. The folks in the other half of our building who work for the Minnesota Department of Agriculture analyze the food products that may be making people sick. Between the two of us, we come up with data that link the two. Suffice it to say that we are currently up to our eyeballs in fecal material, to put it somewhat delicately!
Interestingly enough, the subspecies of Salmonella that we’re looking for associated with this tomato/pepper/?? outbreak is Salmonella Saintpaul, named because it was first identified in this area many, many years ago. I just hope that I never catch the bug named after my city! That is what my job is all about - trying ultimately to prevent people from getting sick with these things.
For up-to-date information on this particular outbreak, go to http://www.cdc.gov/salmonella/saintpaul/
Particularly read the section on Advice to Consumers for some intelligent and common sense advice regarding this outbreak.
Well, off to work!