Under Minnesota law, health professionals must report E. coli O157 infection and hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) cases to the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH).
In a recent article in the Journal of Food Protection, Minnesota health officials explained what happens when a Minnesota resident is diagnosed with E. coli O157:
All Minnesota residents with a culture-confirmed E. coli O157 infection are routinely interviewed with a standard questionnaire about symptom history, food consumption, and other potential exposures occurring in the 7 days prior to onset of illness.
Clinical laboratories are required to forward all O157 isolates to the MDH Public Health Laboratory for confirmation and pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) subtyping. PFGE subtypes are entered into the National Molecular Subtyping Network for Foodborne Disease Surveillance (PulseNet) database. PulseNet is the national electronic communications network for public health laboratories and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). (Swanson 2005, see below)
This information is used to:
- Uncover national and local outbreaks
- Track ongoing outbreaks
- In the hands of an experienced Minnesota E. coli lawyer, to provide victims with evidence of the source of an outbreak
If you have questions about your E. coli O157 case, our Minnesota E. coli lawyers are available to provide you with answers based on years of E. coli and HUS litigation experience. These cases involving significant amounts of complicated, scientific information, and our lawyers have used that evidence to obtain multi-million-dollar recoveries for our clients.
To contact Pritzker Olsen law firm for a free consultation, please call 1-888-377-8900 (toll free), email Attorney Fred Pritzker or submit our online consultation form.
Reference: ELLEN SWANSON LAINE, JONI M. SCHEFTEL, DAVID J. BOXRUD, KEVIN J. VOUGHT, RICHARD N. DANILA, KEVIN M. ELFERING, AND KIRK E. SMITH, Outbreak of Escherichia coli O157:H7 Infections Associated with Nonintact Blade-Tenderized Frozen Steaks Sold by Door-to-Door VendorsJournal of Food Protection, Vol. 68, No. 6, 2005, Pages 1198–1202.
