Concerned Citizens

for Clean Water

SaveOurWaterSupply.org

Working to Keep America's Water Safe and Clean

Airborne e coli Contamination Studied
According to a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) in late November, 2003, airborne contamination by e coli sickened more than 19 people who attended a county fair in Ohio in 2001. According to the study, widespread contamination of surfaces in the building probably resulted from airborne spread of the pathogen from sawdust on the floor. People were most likely infected by eating or drinking after touching tainted surfaces or when airborne bacteria landed on their food or in their mouths.
Click the links below for more information:
Center for Infectious Disease Research & Policy, University of Minnesota "A contaminated multipurpose building apparently was the source of Escherichia coli O157 exposure for at least 19 people who got sick after attending a county fair in Ohio in 2001, according to a study published this week."
The Register-Guard, September 24, 2002: "The E. coli bacteria that sickened 82 people at this summer's Lane County Fair may have spread through the air inside the goat and sheep expo hall, the outbreak's lead investigator said Monday."
Oregon Department of Human Services: "In 2002 we investigated the largest known [e. coli] O157 outbreak in Oregon history. Over 80 cases were associated with visiting the building housing sheep, goat and other small animal exhibits at the Lane County fair. The exact mode of transmission was never determined, although it was learned that at some point the pathogen became airborne in quantities sufficient to be recovered under the pavilion’s roof weeks after the fair."

Copyright 2002-2006 Concerned Citizens for Clean Water, 7025 Sparrow Point, Fort Worth, Texas 76133. Phone: (817)346-7122. Email: citizens@saveourwatersupply.org.