CASE HISTORY In the Fall of 2008,several Individuals,many of Them Children,were Sickened

Essay

CASE HISTORY
In the fall of 2008,several individuals,many of them children,were sickened from the common food pathogen Salmonella enterica.Most infected individuals developed diarrhea,fever,and abdominal cramps 12-72 hours after infection,and symptoms lasted 4-7 days.Over the next six months,cases were reported from nearly all U.S.states,ultimately totaling 700 people.The curve of the outbreak (cases rising and then falling)followed the profile of a single-source epidemic,in which all infections are ultimately traced to one source.All cases of illness showed a common strain of the pathogen S.enterica serovar typhimurium.CDC researchers investigated the outbreak by comparing the food intake histories of ill persons with that of matched controls.They found a statistical association between illness and intake of peanut butter,eventually narrowed to a specific brand of peanut butter sold to institutions.As the epidemic grew,cases emerged in which the contaminated food product turned out to be crackers filled with peanut butter cream.Ultimately,the peanut butter and cream were traced back to peanuts from a single factory in Georgia.
Describe some of the chemical and physical approaches normally used in the production and storage of a food like peanut butter,which are designed to reduce the possibility of outbreaks such as this one.Give an example of a common scenario in which these precautions might fail.