00:00:10
in 1996
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more than a dozen children in seattle
00:00:14
washington were seriously ill and
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fighting for their lives all gripped by
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a mysterious illness
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when one of the children died officials
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feared more deaths would follow
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and medical detectives frantically
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searched for the cause
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[Music]
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terry and kelly beverly both worked in
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the computer industry and have two
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children a son michael and a daughter
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bettina
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after a leisurely day of playing in the
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woods
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michael complained of pain in his
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stomach later he had uncontrolled
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diarrhea
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when his diarrhea contained blood
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his parents became alarmed
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he was just laying on the couch
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just still
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having bloody diapers every
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every 30 minutes and
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just very painful and
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it was just just changing him just heart
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looking at his little body it was
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turning itself inside out
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the beverly's took michael to a hospital
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emergency room where doctors discovered
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that his blood count had dropped to
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dangerous levels his kidneys were
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failing and life-threatening clots were
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forming in his blood
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acute bloody diarrhea and otherwise
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healthy child is an important medical
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problem
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and
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physicians here and elsewhere work that
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up very aggressively take that very
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seriously
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michael's stool sample was sent to the
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laboratory for testing
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doctors were alarmed when they found a
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potentially deadly pathogen known as e
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coli
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o157
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it's a bacteria usually found in the
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intestines of both humans and animals
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when an individual becomes infected
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there is no cure
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e coli o157 infects more than 20 000
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people each year killing 500 of them
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in 1993
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four people died after eating e coli
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tainted hamburgers from the
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jack-in-the-box fast food chain
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fully cooking hamburgers can kill the e
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coli bacteria but these burgers had not
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been fully cooked
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when i found out it was
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the strain of e coli and
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i asked him if it was the same strain
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that affected the kids in jack in a box
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he said yes michael has the same strain
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and i said oh my god
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when he call il-157 is in a widely
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disseminated vehicle
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out for out in the population for
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general consumption
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it's like a serial murderer is
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potentially loose in the population
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was one of the children infected with e
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coli 0-157 from an undercooked hamburger
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purchased at the jack-in-the-box
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restaurant
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she was in a coma for six weeks
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the e coli produces cytotoxins which
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kill other cells breaking through the
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endothelial layer of the intestines
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spilling poisons into the bloodstream
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that complication is called hemolytic
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uremic syndrome
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although brienne kiner eventually came
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out of her coma most of her major organs
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were damaged and she'll need a kidney
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transplant when she's older
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michael beverly also developed hemolytic
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uremic syndrome which can cause brain
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damage kidney damage sepsis and death
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doctors immediately placed michael on
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kidney dialysis to cleanse his body of
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toxins hemolytic uremic syndrome is
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life-threatening of all the kinds of
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diarrheas a child an otherwise healthy
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child is can get in north america
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almost none will
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cause a death or could cause a death
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except for this one that's why this one
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is so uh fearsome once it gets into a
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person the kidney specialist came in and
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he said it's very serious and he might
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not pull through the night it's up to
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his little body and then that's when i
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just broke down i came out and i started
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crying immediately i just i said this is
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it
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as michael beverly lay near death in a
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seattle hospital
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medical investigators were still trying
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to figure out how he came into contact
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with this deadly pathogen
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[Music]
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as two and a half year old michael
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beverly lay unconscious and near death
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in a seattle hospital 12 more children
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were admitted to local hospitals all
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diagnosed with the same deadly pathogen
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e coli o157
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since there is no cure for e coli o157
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investigators needed to find the source
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of the outbreak before even more people
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were infected
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my biggest concern
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was that the
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cases we were seeing every other day
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were just the very beginning of a much
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larger outbreak
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medical investigators suspected that
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food was the probable source
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but the e coli might have been in one
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food source or many
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dr mansour samadpur's job was to see if
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he could identify the exact strain of e
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coli that infected the children
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to find out he turned to something
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usually used for criminal investigations
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dna testing
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when we say e coli 157 it's a very large
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clan very large family or tribe in the e
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coli
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species
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when we do genetic fingerprinting we can
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go to the individuals in that family so
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instead of saying that some you know
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someone with the last name of smith
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killed someone else we can say that
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john smith with social security number
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of such and such living in such and such
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place committed to crime
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like human beings a pathogen like e coli
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has its own genetic fingerprint
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using what is called micro restriction
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fingerprinting the e coli samples were
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placed in a buffer of restriction
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enzymes which break the cells open
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then the dna strands are cut into
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smaller pieces making them easier to
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analyze
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the fragments are placed into a gel with
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a dye
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and after a process called
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electrophoresis the genetic profile
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appears similar to a barcode
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the results indicated that all of the e
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coli strains were the same
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in other words
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all of the sick individuals had been
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infected from the same source
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we had nine patients that had e coli
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o157s in them with the same genetic
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fingerprint definitely that that shows
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that you have a growing outbreak
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e coli o157 has a long incubation period
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five to seven days far longer than most
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food-borne illnesses
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dr russ alexander's job was to figure
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out what was causing the outbreak the
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standard method is to employ what's
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called a case control study
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investigators questioned all of the
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patients families to find out what the
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victims had consumed five to seven days
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before first developing symptoms
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they also compared those answers to what
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others in the same family consumed who
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were not infected
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our early thinking was that this was
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probably a meat sauce because that's
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what mostly is what it is so we
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are looking for everything they've eaten
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and what kind of restaurants they've
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been to what kind of fast food
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restaurants in particular but the
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initial interviews did not reveal any
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one food item that all had consumed
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there was something in common with these
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individuals that made these individuals
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ill
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on the other hand the preliminary
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interview did not produce any obvious
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sources of infection
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but when investigators looked more
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carefully over their initial results
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they found a clue
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one of the sick children
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was a vegetarian
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we had this one case that was a
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clear-cut case it was a
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vegetarian family and there was no
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chance of any meat in this particular
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instance so we
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quickly realized we were into something
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else
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this time another more detailed
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questionnaire was designed with meat
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excluded as the possible cause
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the new questionnaire centered on fruits
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vegetables dairy products and related
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food sources
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not until we had gotten enough cases uh
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coming in with this uh extended
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questionnaire that we began to see
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something else that was in terms of the
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source
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by the end of the week we were
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already pretty sure that
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there was that there was one thing that
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was standing out
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the second set of interviews revealed
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that the victims had all consumed
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apple juice
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but with hundreds of brands on the
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market
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investigators feared it would be
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difficult to find out
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which one
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when seattle health officials discovered
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that apple juice was consumed by the e
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coli patients they needed to find out
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which brand and there were hundreds of
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brands on the market
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but their next clue came from an
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unexpected source
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in denver colorado
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doctors were treating a desperately ill
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16 month old girl named anna gimistad
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anna also had an e coli 0157 infection
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and her parents told doctors that they
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had been in seattle just one week
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earlier
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the gimmick dads recalled feeding anna
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some apple juice a brand she preferred
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because of the bright rainbow colors on
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the label
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odwalla
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the beverly family also recall feeding
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their son michael the same brand from a
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neighborhood coffee shop
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this one particular sunday i went up and
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stood in line
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and you know to order our drinks and
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i saw them prepare it and i last went
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you use old walla for the kids and they
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go well yeah
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so i'm like oh
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further investigation revealed that the
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other victims also consumed odwala apple
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juice five to seven days before
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developing symptoms
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the odwalla company manufactures and
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distributes juice products in seven
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states and british columbia
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it's a brand known for its freshness
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most fruit juices are pasteurized which
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means they're heated to a temperature
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high enough to kill any bacteria
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but odwalla juice was not pasteurized
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the company believed that pasteurization
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hurt the taste of their juice
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the company's mission statement read
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if it's not fresh squeezed then it's not
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odwalla
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just nine days after the outbreak health
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officials asked the odwalla company to
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voluntarily remove their product from
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store shelves the company complied even
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though there was no conclusive proof
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that odwalla was the source of the
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outbreak
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as you know
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immediately upon hearing of the
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possibility of consumer health risks
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we recall our products contain apple
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juice our primary concerns for the
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health and welfare of our consumers
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the news that the source may have been
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apple juice
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was little relief to the gimmistad
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family in evans colorado
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sixteen-month-old anna was taking a turn
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for the worse
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like some of the other victims anna
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developed hemolytic uremic syndrome a
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complication of the e coli infection
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that produces toxins that shut down the
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kidneys
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less than two weeks after anagemist had
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consumed the odwalla apple juice
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she died
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for the beverly's news of anna
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gimistad's death was terrifying
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just knowing that there was a 16 month
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old that died i was very that just to me
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i knew he was i thought he was going to
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die to be frank i said this is it he's
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going to die
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and although investigators discovered
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that all of the affected individuals had
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consumed o'dwalla juice there was no
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proof that the juice was the source of
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the outbreak
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the proof if there was any
00:13:20
would be in the juice itself
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thousands of bottles of odwalla juice
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were tested for e coli 0157 but the
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deadly pathogen could not be found
00:13:32
medical investigators were starting to
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wonder whether they were ever going to
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find scientific proof that the apple
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juice was the source of the outbreak
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all of the e coli victims remember
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drinking odwalla apple juice shortly
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before getting sick
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but investigators couldn't find the e
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coli bacteria in any of the odwalla
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juice bottles they tested but on
00:14:00
november 4 1996
00:14:03
at the odwala distribution center
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investigators found one bottle of apple
00:14:08
juice that tested positive for e coli
00:14:12
o157
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the question now was whether the bottle
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contained the same strain that caused
00:14:18
the death of anna gimistad and infected
00:14:21
michael beverly and the other children
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to find out
00:14:26
investigators turned once again to dna
00:14:29
testing
00:14:30
the dna profile on the left is the e
00:14:33
coli strain from michael beverly
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on the right
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the dna profile of the e coli found in
00:14:40
the bottle of odwalla apple juice
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the profiles were identical
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scientific proof that the odwalla juice
00:14:50
was the source
00:14:52
being able to identify the same genetic
00:14:55
strain of e coli in a bottle of unopened
00:14:59
odwalla juice given that an estimated 40
00:15:01
thousand of these bottles
00:15:04
it's not finding a needle in a haystack
00:15:05
it's finding a needle out of about a
00:15:08
hundred haystacks spread across most of
00:15:10
western united states
00:15:13
the label revealed the juice had been
00:15:15
bottled on october 7 1996 three weeks
00:15:19
before the outbreak
00:15:20
company records identified the orchard
00:15:23
whose apples were used to make the juice
00:15:25
that day
00:15:27
dr sarah cody an epidemic intelligence
00:15:30
officer with the california department
00:15:32
of health went to the orchard to
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investigate
00:15:35
we were wandering in the orchard
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and what we noticed was along the edge
00:15:40
of the orchard there were a number of uh
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deer prints in the sand
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and near the deer prince were deer
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droppings a potential source of e coli
00:15:52
o157
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dr cody wondered whether some of the
00:15:57
apples had fallen to the ground had come
00:16:00
into contact with the deer droppings and
00:16:03
then were picked up and sent to the
00:16:05
juice processing plant
00:16:08
dr cody collected samples which were
00:16:11
sent to the lab for testing
00:16:14
the e coli from the deer droppings was
00:16:17
then sent for dna testing but it did not
00:16:20
match the e coli strain that infected
00:16:22
the 13 children
00:16:24
it's possible that there could have been
00:16:27
one deer or a number of deer that were
00:16:29
shedding one strain or more than one
00:16:30
strain so perhaps we just isolated the
00:16:33
wrong strain or perhaps we got the wrong
00:16:36
deer perhaps we've got the wrong orchard
00:16:38
the odwalla company says that it's
00:16:40
against their policy to purchase apples
00:16:43
that were picked up from the ground even
00:16:46
though oddballah claimed to have
00:16:47
documents signed documents from their
00:16:49
suppliers that they did not use ground
00:16:52
apples or apples from the ground
00:16:55
we found that it's virtually impossible
00:16:57
to verify that or to enforce it
00:17:00
especially when workers are paid by the
00:17:02
bin
00:17:03
in 1996 the u.s army considered serving
00:17:07
odewala juice to military personnel but
00:17:09
after an inspection of the odwalla
00:17:11
processing plant military investigators
00:17:14
stated that odwalla's plant sanitation
00:17:17
program does not adequately assure
00:17:20
product wholesomeness for military
00:17:22
consumers
00:17:23
the army rated the bacteria levels in
00:17:26
the juice as too high
00:17:28
a copy of the us army report found its
00:17:31
way into the hands of the attorney
00:17:33
representing the victims of the e coli
00:17:36
outbreak
00:17:37
william marler adwala was trying to sell
00:17:41
adwala jews to the u.s army no not as a
00:17:44
bacteriological weapon
00:17:47
but the amount of bacteria that were
00:17:49
that was in
00:17:50
the finished product samples were in the
00:17:53
millions
00:17:54
where any
00:17:57
possible
00:17:58
responsible company would have had
00:18:01
it in the the tens
00:18:04
the united states attorney general's
00:18:06
office took the unprecedented step of
00:18:08
indicting odwalla in a criminal
00:18:11
prosecution the charge delivering
00:18:14
adulterated food products for interstate
00:18:17
commerce
00:18:19
and when we find a company that has
00:18:21
knowingly placed contaminated food into
00:18:24
the
00:18:25
stream of commerce we're going to
00:18:26
prosecute that company and we're going
00:18:28
to put the individuals
00:18:30
in jail
00:18:32
and that's a very strong lesson and it's
00:18:33
one that
00:18:34
that the people that manufacture food
00:18:37
in this country ought to take to heart
00:18:40
in july of 1998 odwala pleaded guilty
00:18:45
and was fined one and a half million
00:18:48
dollars the largest penalty ever imposed
00:18:51
in a food poisoning case
00:18:54
odwala products are now pasteurized and
00:18:57
carry warning labels
00:18:59
but for the family of 16 month old and
00:19:02
against dad
00:19:03
that was too little too late
00:19:06
there's no amount of monetary penalty or
00:19:08
jail time that is ever going to bring
00:19:10
back
00:19:11
little anna
00:19:12
or
00:19:13
make the other dozen or so children that
00:19:15
were severely injured whole again
00:19:18
so from that standpoint i don't think
00:19:19
that there
00:19:20
was a possible settlement that would
00:19:22
have been satisfactory
00:19:24
e coli 0157 can cause serious diseases
00:19:28
there's other food borne pathogens out
00:19:30
there that can cause serious diseases
00:19:32
we have the technology to prevent many
00:19:35
of these
00:19:36
problems this
00:19:39
the consumption of unpasteurized apple
00:19:41
juice
00:19:42
in the 1996 outbreak was a dramatic
00:19:46
example of how
00:19:48
a safe effective technology was not
00:19:50
employed
00:19:51
to the detriment of children in the
00:19:53
northwest
00:19:55
the families of the victims filed suit
00:19:57
against odwalla and settled with the
00:19:59
company before going to trial
00:20:01
the terms of that settlement were not
00:20:03
disclosed
00:20:05
michael beverly now appears to be in
00:20:08
good health but he and the other
00:20:10
children still face the possibility of
00:20:13
future medical complications from their
00:20:16
e coli 0157
00:20:18
infection what was it that almost killed
00:20:21
michael
00:20:24
it was e coli
00:20:25
it was the effects of e coli toxin in
00:20:28
his body eating up his his system
00:20:31
that's what almost killed him
00:20:34
unfortunately i see it a little
00:20:35
different i see it i see it as what
00:20:38
almost killed him was
00:20:40
a company's negligence and
00:20:42
irresponsibility
00:20:44
and this shouldn't have happened
00:20:46
the smoking gun in this case was the
00:20:48
science it was what the forensics gave
00:20:50
us odwalla had no wiggle room
00:20:53
it was conclusive it was a matter of
00:20:54
scientific principle that ode wallace
00:20:57
product had e coli o157 h7 in it and
00:21:01
that that was the same exact
00:21:03
bacteria which was in the victims
00:21:07
[Music]
00:21:22
[Music]
00:21:30
[Applause]
00:21:34
[Music]
00:21:49
you
