Veganist_ Lose Weight, Get Healthy, Change the World - Kathy Freston [45]
KF: What percentage of the population gets hit by the bacteria? How many of them die? Could that likely increase?
MG: While E. coli O157:H7 remains the leading cause of acute kidney failure in U.S. children, fewer than 100,000 Americans get infected every year, and fewer than 100 die. But millions get infected with other types of E. coli that can cause urinary tract infections (UTIs) that can invade the bloodstream and cause an estimated 36,000 deaths annually in the United States.
KF: It seems we only occasionally hear of the very few terrible cases where E. coli kills; is it really a widespread problem?
MG: When medical researchers at the University of Minnesota took more than 1,000 food samples from multiple retail markets, they found evidence of fecal contamination in 69 percent of the pork and beef and 92 percent of the poultry samples. Nine out of ten chicken carcasses in the store may be contaminated with fecal matter. And half of the poultry samples were contaminated with the UTI-causing E. coli bacteria.
Scientists now suspect that by eating chicken, women infect their lower intestinal tract with these meat-borne bacteria, which can then creep up into their bladder. Hygiene measures to prevent UTIs have traditionally included wiping from front to back after bowel movements and urinating after intercourse to flush out any invaders, but now women can add poultry avoidance as a way to help prevent urinary tract infections.
KF: Are there any long-term problems for people who ingest E. coli and have a bad day or two with diarrhea, or is the problem over once E. coli is out of the system?
MG: Recently the Center for Foodborne Illness Research and Prevention released a report on the long-term consequences of common causes of food poisoning. Lifelong complications of E. coli O157:H7 infection include end-stage kidney disease, permanent brain damage, and insulin-dependent diabetes.
KF: Is E. coli a problem if the meat is cooked?
MG: With the exception of prions, the infectious agents responsible for mad cow disease and the human equivalent—which can survive even incineration at temperatures hot enough to melt lead—all viral, fungal, and bacterial pathogens in our food supply can be killed by proper cooking. Why then do tens of millions of Americans come down with food poisoning every year? Cross-contamination is thought to account for the bulk of infections. For example, chicken carcasses are so covered in bacteria that researchers at the University of Arizona found more fecal bacteria in the kitchen—on sponges and dish towels, and in the sink drain—than they found swabbing the toilet. In a meat eater’s house it may be safer to lick the rim of the toilet seat than the kitchen countertop, because people aren’t preparing chickens in their toilets. Chicken “juice” is essentially raw fecal soup.
KF: What goes on inside the body when a human ingests E. coli?
[Note to reader: You might not want to read this next section on a full stomach. It’s very graphic and deeply disturbing.]
MG: Depending on the strain, the number of bacteria ingested, and the immune status of the victim, it can fail to cause any disease at all or, in the worst cases, cause multi-system organ failure. Here’s how one mother described what E. coli O157:H7 did to her three-year-old daughter Brianna: “The pain during the first eighty hours was horrific, with intense abdominal cramping every ten to twelve minutes. Her intestines swelled to three times their normal size and she was placed on a ventilator. Emergency surgery became essential and her colon was removed. After further surgery, doctors decided to leave the incision open, from sternum to pubis, to allow Brianna’s swollen organs room to expand and prevent them from ripping her skin. Her heart was so swollen it was like a sponge and bled from every pore. Her liver and pancreas shut down and she was gripped by thousands of convulsions, which