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In 1996, more than a dozen children in Seattle, Washington were seriously ill and
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fighting for their lives. All gripped by a mysterious illness. When one of the children died, officials feared more
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deaths would follow, and medical detectives frantically searched for the cause. [Music]
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Terry and Kelly Beverly both worked in the computer industry and have two children, a son Michael and a daughter
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Betina. After a leisurely day of playing in the woods, Michael complained of pain in his
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stomach. Later, he had uncontrolled diarrhea. When his diarrhea contained blood, his parents became alarmed. He
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was just laying on the couch just still um ch having uh bloody diapers every um every 30 minutes and you just very
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painful >> and uh it was just just changing and just heart looking at his little body
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was turning itself inside out. The Beverly took Michael to a hospital emergency room where doctors discovered
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that his blood count had dropped to dangerous levels. His kidneys were failing and life-threatening clots were
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forming in his blood. >> Acute bloody diarrhea, an otherwise healthy child is a important medical
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problem and uh physicians here and elsewhere work that up very aggressively, take that very seriously.
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>> Michael's stool sample was sent to the laboratory for testing. Doctors were
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alarmed when they found a potentially deadly pathogen known as E.coli0157. It's a bacteria usually found in the
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intestines of both humans and animals. When an individual becomes infected, there is no cure. E.coli0157
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infects more than 20,000 people each year, killing 500 of them. In 1993, four people died after eating E. coli
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tainted hamburgers from the Jack in the Box fast food chain. Fully cooking hamburgers can kill the E.coli bacteria,
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but these burgers had not been fully cooked. When I found out it was um uh the strain of E.coli, and uh I asked him
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if it was the same strain that affected the kids in Jack in a Box, he said, "Yes, Michael has the same strain." And
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I said, "Oh my god. When eco157 is in a widely disseminated vehicle out for out
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in the population for general consumption, it's like a serial murderer is potentially loose in the population.
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Brienne Ker was one of the children infected with E.coli0157 from an undercooked hamburger purchased
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at the Jack-in-theBox restaurant. She was in a coma for 6 weeks. The E.coli coli produces cytotoxins
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which kill other cells breaking through the endothelial layer of the intestines spilling poisons into the bloodstream.
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That complication is called hemolytic uremic syndrome. Although Brienne Ker eventually came out
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of her coma, most of her major organs were damaged and she'll need a kidney transplant when she's older. Michael
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Beverly also developed hemolytic uremic syndrome which can cause brain damage, kidney damage, sepsis and death.
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Doctors immediately placed Michael on kidney dialysis to cleanse his body of toxins. Hemolytic uremic syndrome is
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life-threatening. Of all the kinds of diarrheas a child, an otherwise healthy child is can get in North America,
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almost none will uh cause a death or could cause a death except for this one. That's why this one is so uh fearsome
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once it gets into a person. >> The kidney specialist came in and he said it's very serious and he might not
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pull through the night. It's up to his little body. And then that's when I just
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broke down. I I came out and I started crying immediately. I I just I said this is it. As Michael Beverly lay near death
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in a Seattle hospital, medical investigators were still trying to figure out how he came into contact with
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this deadly pathogen. As 2 and 1/2year-old Michael Beverly lay unconscious and near death in a Seattle
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hospital, 12 more children were admitted to local hospitals. All diagnosed with the same deadly pathogen E. coli0157.
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Since there is no cure for E.coli0157, investigators needed to find the source of the outbreak before even more people
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were infected. My biggest concern was that the cases we were seeing every other day
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were just the very beginning of a much larger outbreak. Medical investigators suspected that
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food was the probable source. But the EC coli might have been in one food source
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or many. Dr. Mansour Samadpur's job was to see if he could identify the exact
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strain of E.coli coli that infected the children. To find out, he turned to something usually used for criminal
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investigations, DNA testing. When we say E.coli0157, it's a very large clan, very
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large family or tribe in the E.coli species. When we do genetic fingerprinting, we can go to the
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individuals in that family. So instead of saying that some you know uh someone with the last name of Smith
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killed someone else, we can say that uh John Smith with social security number of such and such living in such and such
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place committed the crime. >> Like human beings a pathogen like E.coli has its own genetic fingerprint. Using
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what is called microrestriction fingerprinting, the E.coli coli samples were placed in a buffer of restriction
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enzymes which break the cells open. Then the DNA strands are cut into smaller pieces making them easier to analyze.
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The fragments are placed into a gel with a dye and after a process called electrofaresis,
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the genetic profile appears similar to a barcode. The results indicated that all
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of the E.coli E coli strains were the same. In other words, all of the sick individuals had been infected from the
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same source. >> We had nine patients that had E.coli0157s in them with the same genetic
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fingerprint. Definitely that that shows that you have a growing outbreak. >> E.coli0157
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has a long incubation period, 5 to 7 days, far longer than most food born illnesses. Dr. Russ Alexander's job was
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to figure out what was causing the outbreak. The standard method is to employ what's called a case control
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study. Investigators questioned all of the patients families to find out what the victims had consumed 5 to 7 days
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before first developing symptoms. They also compared those answers to what others in the same family consumed who
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were not infected. Our early thinking was that this was probably a meat sauce because that's what mostly is what it
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is. So we are looking for everything they've eaten and what kind of restaurants they've been to, what kind
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of fast food restaurants in particular. >> But the initial interviews did not
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reveal any one food item that all had consumed. >> There was something in common with these
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individuals that made these individuals ill. On the other hand, the preliminary interview did not produce any obvious uh
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sources of infection. >> But when investigators looked more carefully over their initial results,
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they found a clue. >> One of the sick children was a vegetarian. >> We had this one case that was a
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clear-cut case. It was a vegetarian family and there was no chance of any meat in this particular instance. So we
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quickly realized we were into something else. >> This time another more detailed
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questionnaire was designed with meat excluded as the possible cause. The new questionnaire centered on fruits,
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vegetables, dairy products, and related food sources. >> Not until we had gotten enough cases uh
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coming in with this this uh extended questionnaire that we began to see something else that was in terms of the
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source. By the end of the week, we were already pretty sure that uh there was that there was one thing that was
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standing out. >> The second set of interviews revealed that the victims had all consumed apple
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juice. But with hundreds of brands on the market, investigators feared it would be difficult to find out which
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one. When Seattle health officials discovered that apple juice was consumed by the
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E.coli patients, they needed to find out which brand. And there were hundreds of
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brands on the market. But their next clue came from an unexpected source. In Denver, Colorado, doctors were treating
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a desperately ill 16-month-old girl named Anna Gimmestad. Anna also had an E.coli015. coli0157
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infection and her parents told doctors that they had been in Seattle just one week earlier.
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The Gimmestads recalled feeding Anna some apple juice, a brand she preferred because of the bright rainbow colors on
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the label, Odala. The Beverly family also recall feeding their son Michael the same brand from a
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neighborhood coffee shop. This one particular Sunday I went up and stood in line and you know to order our drinks
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and I saw them prepare it and I asked them you you use Odala for the kids and they go well yeah so I'm like oh
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>> further investigation revealed that the other victims also consumed Odwala apple
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juice 5 to 7 days before developing symptoms. The Odwala Company manufactures and
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distributes juice products in seven states and British Columbia. It's a brand known for its freshness.
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Most fruit juices are pasteurized, which means they're heated to a temperature
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high enough to kill any bacteria. But Odala Juice was not pasteurized. The company believed that pasteurization
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hurt the taste of their juice. The company's mission statement read, "If
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it's not freshsqueezed, then it's not Odwala." Just 9 days after the outbreak, health
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officials asked the Odwala company to voluntarily remove their product from storeshelves. The company complied even
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though there was no conclusive proof that Odala was the source of the outbreak. As you know, immediately upon
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hearing of the possibility of consumer health risks, we recalled our products containing apple juice. Our primary
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concern is for the health and welfare of our consumers. >> The news that the source may have been
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apple juice was little relief to the Gistad family in Evans, Colorado. 16-month-old Anna was taking a turn for
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the worse. Like some of the other victims, Anna developed hemolytic uremic syndrome, a complication of the E.coli
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infection that produces toxins that shut down the kidneys. Less than 2 weeks after Anakimistad
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consumed the Odala apple juice, she died. For the Beverly's, news of Anagistad's death was terrifying.
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Just knowing that there was a 16-month-old that died, I was very that just to me I knew he was I thought he
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was going to die. To be frank, I said, "This is it. He's going to die."
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>> And although investigators discovered that all of the affected individuals had
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consumed Oduala juice, there was no proof that the juice was the source of the outbreak. The proof, if there was
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any, would be in the juice itself. Thousands of bottles of Odoala juice were tested for E.coli. coli0157,
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but the deadly pathogen could not be found. Medical investigators were starting to wonder whether they were
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ever going to find scientific proof that the apple juice was the source of the outbreak.
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All of the E.coli victims remember drinking Odala apple juice shortly before getting sick, but investigators
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couldn't find the E.coli coli bacteria in any of the Odala juice bottles they
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tested. But on November 4th, 1996 at the Odala distribution center, investigators found one bottle of apple
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juice that tested positive for E.coli0157. The question now was whether the bottle
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contained the same strain that caused the death of Anagistad and infected Michael Beverly and the other children.
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To find out, investigators turned once again to DNA testing. The DNA profile on the left is the E.coli strain from
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Michael Beverly. On the right, the DNA profile of the E.coli found in the bottle of Odala apple juice. The
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profiles were identical. Scientific proof that the Odala juice was the source. Being able to identify the same genetic
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strain of E.coli in a bottle of unopened Odwala juice given that an estimated 40,000 of these bottles. It's not
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finding a needle in a haystack. It's finding a needle out of about 100 hay stacks spread across most of western
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United States. The label revealed the juice had been bottled on October 7th, 1996, 3 weeks before the outbreak.
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Company records identified the orchard whose apples were used to make the juice that day. Dr. Sarah Cody, an epidemic
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intelligence officer with the California Department of Health, went to the orchard to investigate.
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>> We were wandering in the orchard and what we noticed was along the edge of
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the orchard there were a number of uh deer prints in the sand. And neared the deer prince were deer
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droppings, a potential source of E.coli0157. Dr. Cody wondered whether some of the
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apples had fallen to the ground, had come into contact with the deer droppings, and then were picked up and
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sent to the juice processing plant. Dr. Cody collected samples which were sent to the lab for testing.
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The E.coli E coli from the deer droppings was then sent for DNA testing, but it did not match the E.coli strain
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that infected the 13 children. >> It's possible that there could have been
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one deer or a number of deer that were shedding one strain or more than one strain. So perhaps we just isolated the
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wrong strain or perhaps we got the wrong deer, perhaps we got the wrong orchard.
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The Odala company says that it's against their policy to purchase apples that
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were picked up from the ground. >> Even though Odwala claimed to have documents, signed documents from their
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suppliers that they did not use ground apples or apples from the ground. We found that it's virtually impossible to
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verify that or to enforce it, especially when workers are paid by the bin. And in
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1996, the US Army considered serving Odwala juice to military personnel. But after an inspection of the Odala
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processing plant, military investigators stated that Odwala's plant sanitation
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program does not adequately assure product wholesomeness for military consumers. The Army rated the bacteria
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levels in the juice as too high. A copy of the US Army report found its way into
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the hands of the attorney representing the victims of the E.coli outbreak, William Marlor.
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>> Adala was trying to sell Adalla juice to the US Army. No, not as a bacteriological weapon, but the amount
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of bacteria that were that was in the finished product samples were in the millions
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where any possible responsible company would have had it in the the tens. >> The United States Attorney General's
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office took the unprecedented step of indicting Odala in a criminal prosecution. the charge delivering
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adulterated food products for interstate commerce. >> And when we find a company that has
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knowingly placed contaminated food into the stream of commerce, we are going to prosecute that company and we are going
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to put the individuals in jail. And that's a very strong lesson and it's one
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that that uh that people that manufacture food in this country ought to take to heart. In July of 1998,
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Oduala pleaded guilty and was fined $1.5 million, the largest penalty ever imposed in a food poisoning case.
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Oduala products are now pasteurized and carry warning labels. But for the family
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of 16-month-old Anna Gimad, that was too little, too late. There's no amount of
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monetary penalty or jail time that is ever going to bring back little Anna or make the other dozen or so children that
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were severely injured whole again. So from that standpoint, I don't think that
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there was a possible settlement that would have been satisfactory. >> Ecoli 0157 can cause serious diseases.
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There's other food born pathogens out there that can cause serious diseases.
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uh we have the technology to prevent many of these uh problems. Uh this uh the consumption of unpasteurized apple
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juice uh in the 1996 outbreak was a uh dramatic example of how uh a safe effective technology was not employed uh
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to the detriment of children in the Northwest. >> The families of the victims filed suit
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against Odala and settled with the company before going to trial. The terms of that settlement were not disclosed.
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Michael Beverly now appears to be in good health, but he and the other children still faced the possibility of
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future medical complications from their E. coli0157 infection. >> What was it that almost killed Michael?
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It was E.coli. It was the effects of E.coli E coli toxin in his body eating up his his system. That's what almost
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killed him. >> Unfortunately, I see it a little different. I see it I see it as what
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almost killed him was um a company's negligence and irresponsibility and this
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shouldn't have happened. >> The smoking gun in this case was the science. It was what the forensics gave
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us. Odala had no wiggle room. It was conclusive. It was a matter of scientific principle that Odwallis
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product had E.coli0157H7 in it and that that was the same exact bacteria which was in the victims.
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[Music] Everybody. Heat. Heat. [Music] [Applause] [Music]