Food Poisoning News and Research

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Food poisoning is a term given to infections with bacteria, parasites, viruses, or toxins from germs that affects humans via contaminated food or water.

Bdellovibrio safe and effective for treating Salmonella infection

Scientists have tested a predatory bacterium - Bdellovibrio - against Salmonella in the guts of live chickens. They found that it significantly reduced the numbers of Salmonella bacteria and, importantly, showed that Bdellovibrio are safe when ingested.

28 Jun 2011

Veredus Labs develops ‘Lab-on-Chip’ to detect and differentiate several food-borne pathogens, including Escherichia coli

Veredus Laboratories, a leading provider of molecular detection tests, and its technology partner, STMicroelectronics (NYSE: STM), today announced the successful development and deployment of VereFoodborne™, a Lab-on-Chip application that is able to detect 10 to 12 food-borne pathogens in one test, including the Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (E. coli) responsible for the recent severe food poisoning outbreak in Europe.

23 Jun 2011

Veredus Lab-on-Chip application can diagnose and differentiate food-borne pathogens

Veredus Laboratories, a leading provider of molecular detection tests, and its technology partner, STMicroelectronics, today announced the successful development and deployment of VereFoodborne, a Lab-on-Chip application that is able to detect 10 to 12 food-borne pathogens in one test, including the Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli responsible for the recent severe food poisoning outbreak in Europe.

23 Jun 2011

Food poisoning with E coli low but Salmonella high

According to public health officials this Tuesday, progress has been made in combating the microbes behind 50 million yearly U.S. food poisoning cases. These affect one in six Americans. This comes from the newest federal FoodNet report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that shows that total food-borne illnesses dropped by nearly a quarter in the last decade and a half, but salmonella infections have steadily refused to drop, climbing slightly in recent years.

8 Jun 2011

'Designer' probiotic bacterium neutralises E. coli toxin

A potential life-saving treatment for severe E. coli food poisoning outbreaks - developed more than a decade ago - hasn't gone forward into clinical trials because of lack of commercial interest.

8 Jun 2011

New approach for treatment of infections of urinary tract

One in three women will be faced at least once in her life with cystitis, for some the start of a constantly recurring infection. Cystitis is caused by Escherichia coli bacteria which fasten on to the wall of the bladder by means of thread-like structures (pili).

4 Jun 2011

Irritable Bowel Syndrome linked to bacterial overgrowth, food poisoning

Cedars-Sinai researchers have reported two advances in the understanding of Irritable Bowel Syndrome, the most common gastrointestinal disorder in the United States, affecting an estimated 30 million people.

12 May 2011

Food poisoning costs the United States billions: Report

According to a new report published Thursday, 14 different pathogens causing food poisoning cost the United States $14 billion annually in terms of human disease. The report comes from the University of Florida Emerging Pathogens Institute that found that out of all the pathogen-food combinations they studied, campylobacter in poultry was the single worst offender, causing more than 600,000 illnesses per year, hospitalizing more than 7,000 people and costing, annually, $1.3 billion and 9,500 quality-of-life years.

29 Apr 2011

How peppermint helps to relieve Irritable Bowel Syndrome

University of Adelaide researchers have shown for the first time how peppermint helps to relieve Irritable Bowel Syndrome, which affects up to 20% of the population.

20 Apr 2011

Genetically modified bacteria filters out toxic pesticide vapors

Genetically modified bacteria could be used in air filters to extract pesticide vapors from polluted air thanks to work by researchers in China published this month in the International Journal of Environment and Pollution.

15 Apr 2011

Scientists sequence Clostridium botulinum genome that produces neurotoxin

Scientists on the Norwich Research Park have sequenced the genome of a novel strain of Clostridium botulinum, one of the most dangerous pathogens known to man. The strain produces an unusual botulinum neurotoxin, known as type A5 neurotoxin, which was isolated by the Health Protection Agency, following a case of wound botulism.

8 Mar 2011

Silver nanoparticle coated 'killer paper' for food packaging

Scientists are reporting development and successful lab tests of "killer paper," a material intended for use as a new food packaging material that helps preserve foods by fighting the bacteria that cause spoilage. The paper, described in ACS's journal, Langmuir, contains a coating of silver nanoparticles, which are powerful anti-bacterial agents.

17 Feb 2011

Americans willing to pay more, but up to a limit, for safer food

Government regulators could more realistically assess the value of improving food safety if they considered the fact that consumers typically want to avoid getting sick - even if it means they have to pay a little extra for safer food, researchers say.

10 Feb 2011

USPTO issues Notice of Allowances to Lakewood's three patent applications for treatment of HUS

Lakewood-Amedex, a leading developer of novel anti-infective pharmaceuticals, announced today that the United States Patent and Trademark Office has issued Notice of Allowances on three patent applications relating to the use of novel monoclonal antibodies for the treatment of hemolytic uremic syndrome caused by shiga toxin II secreting E.coli O157: H7 strain.

28 Jan 2011

New food safety standards for manufacturers, processors

The FDA Food Safety Modernization Act, expected to be signed into law shortly by President Barack Obama, will set the bar higher for food manufacturers, processors and importers, as well as retailers of private label products, according to attorney Janice Lai, a partner in LeClairRyan's Hartford office.

30 Dec 2010

Scientists determine 500 three-dimensional protein structures from bacterial and protozoan pathogens

9 Dec 2010

Scientists work together to wipe out some of the most lethal diseases

Scientists at Seattle Biomedical Research Institute and Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine have reached a major milestone in the effort to wipe out some of the most lethal diseases on the planet. As leaders of two large structural genomics centers, they've experimentally determined 500 three-dimensional protein structures from a number of bacterial and protozoan pathogens, which could potentially lead to new drugs, vaccines and diagnostics to combat deadly infectious diseases.

8 Dec 2010

New study may lead to non-medicinal methods of eradicating Hamburger disease

Hamburger disease, a debilitating form of food poisoning, may be a thing of the past. New findings from an international research collaboration conducted by the French National Institute for Agronomic Research (INRA), involving the Universit- de Montr-al are the first to show how the contaminating E.coli bacterium is able to survive in the competitive environment of a cow's intestine by scavenging specific food sources.

30 Nov 2010

Superantigens can disrupt immune system, can cause more illnesses

Superantigens, the toxins produced by staphylococcus bacteria, are more complex than previously believed, reveals a team of researchers from the University of Gothenburg in an article published today in the scientific journal Nature Communications. Their discovery shows that the body's immune system can cause more illnesses than realised.

29 Nov 2010

Young father receives life-saving intervention prior heart transplant surgery

James "Jimmy" Armstrong hadn't missed a "Mac" in 28 years. At 44, he's one of the youngest "goats" in the Chicago Yacht Club. Sailors receive the designation of "goat" once they've completed 20 or more "Macs", the 333-mile boat race from Chicago to Mackinac, Mich. Armstrong has sailed the race every year since he was 16. But, he wasn't among the sailors this past July. Instead, he was in intensive care awaiting heart transplant following a harrowing experience spurred by severe case of myocarditis-a little-known condition causing inflammation of the heart muscle.

15 Nov 2010