January 12, Food Safety News – (Minnesota) 29 high schoolers infected with rare E. coli strain from deer. A high school environmental science experience went awry when 29 students became infected with a lesser-known strain of pathogenic E. coli from the white-tailed deer they hunted, butchered, and barbecued for a class project, Food Safety News reported January 12. The incident, which happened more than a year ago, came to the media’s attention for the first time January 11, when the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) published a study on the outbreak written by researchers at the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH). In November, 2010, two students from the environmental science class were admitted to a hospital with diarrhea. They shared the same doctor, who suspected their symptoms might indicate E. coli O157:H7 infections. When both students tested negative for O157, the doctor called the MDH, whose epidemiologist, discovered they were infected with E. coli O103:H2, another Shiga toxin-producing strain and one of the “Big Six” non-O157 strains soon to be regulated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture in ground beef. It did not take long for the health department to trace back the infections to school barbeques where more than 200 students learned to field dress deer and help a professional butcher chop chunks of venison into kabob pieces. Students were also largely responsible for cooking their own meat, which was cut from one of seven deer, at least one of which carried E. coli O103, as well as O145:NM, a nonvirulent strain. Through interviews, the health department found 27 other students had diarrhea in the days following the barbeque. Source:
29 High Schoolers Infected with Rare E. Coli Strain from Deer