Gabrielle Meunier, the mother of a salmonella victim, speaks during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington on Wednesday. At right is Jeff Almer, whose mother died as a result of salmonella poisoning.Gerald Herbert/AP.
Two days later, Thomas woke up at his home in Buford with dry heaves, stomach cramps, diarrhea and bloody mucus. He was treated at Northside Hospital-Forsyth but two years later, Thomas is still sick.
He was diagnosed with a salmonella infection believed to be linked to Peter Pan, made at the ConAgra Foods plant in Sylvester, Ga., though no stool culture was taken to confirm it.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says 40,000 cases of salmonella poisoning are reported every year. About 400 people die, and a fraction of those who fall ill from the food-borne bacterial infection develop health issues that include chronic arthritis, eye irritation, irritable bowel syndrome, gall bladder problems and painful urination.
“It’s pain, pain and more pain,” Thomas said in an interview. “I had never been sick a day of my life. Then salmonella ruined me — physically, emotionally and financially.”
As victims of the recent outbreak of salmonella begin to speak out, those who continue to suffer, like Thomas, expressed disappointment that more Americans are falling ill.
So far, the outbreak linked to a Blakely, Ga., peanut processing plant has sickened 529 people, including six in Georgia, and may have contributed to the deaths of eight. The plant is owned by Peanut Corp. of America.
Thomas lent his name to a Washington news conference Wednesday in which U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) unveiled new legislation that would split the Food and Drug Administration into two separate agencies to ensure stricter food safety regulation.
He wanted the world to know how serious salmonella can be; that for some people, the damage is permanent.
“I did take some comfort in the belief after it happened to me that the system was fixed and would not happen to any more nice families…,” he said in his statement, “but here we are once again, literally right down the road from the very same plant I was poisoned from, with exactly the same situation but even more widespread that it was before.”
For the first 5 and 1/2 months, Thomas said, he could not even get out of bed. He took antibiotics for almost 11 months. He could no longer work as a real estate lender. He had no health insurance and visited emergency rooms when he felt extremely ill. He could not keep up with bills and lost his house.
“My life fell apart in Georgia,” said Thomas, 52, who moved from Buford to Detroit a year ago to be with his son.
Dr. W. Hayes Wilson, chief of rheumatology at Piedmont Hospital, said some people born with the HLA-B27 antigen on their cells are predisposed to developing reactive arthritis after suffering from bacterial infections, including salmonellosis.
“Genetics are the loaded gun. Salmonella pulls the trigger,” Wilson said.
In others, salmonella can lodge in the gall bladder and make that person a chronic carrier of the bacteria, said Dr. Carlos del Rio, chief of medicine at Grady Hospital.
“They may need gall bladder removal,” he said. “Or they could infect other people.”
Studies have also associated salmonella infections with gastric and bladder cancer.
Del Rio said people who already have weakened immune systems because of cancer or HIV could get extremely ill from bacterial infections. The very young and old — like Shirley Mae Almer, 72, of Savage, Minn. — are also more vulnerable.
Almer died Dec. 21 after eating contaminated peanut butter. She survived two seizures, a brain tumor and cancer spots on her right lung before her health rapidly deteriorated from salmonella poisoning.
Her son, Jeff Almer, described his mother as a woman with “sisu,” Finnish for someone with spunk.
“Cancer couldn’t claim her but peanut butter did,” he said at the food safety news conference. “Our family feels cheated. My mom should be with us today.”
In the latest outbreak, the CDC reports that the sick ranged in age from less than 1 years old to 98.
Gabrielle Meunier, from South Burlington, Vt., was lucky. Her 7-year-old son recovered after getting violently ill from contaminated crackers.
“He said, ‘Mommy, the pain hurts so much I want to die,’” she said at Wednesday’s press conference.
Meunier and the Almer family have both sued Peanut Corp of America.
But Meunier said she worries her son could face long-term consequences of such a serious infection.
Thomas believes she has a right to worry.
He said his father had called him after hearing about the ConAgra outbreak to warn the “peanut butter kid” to stay away from his staple. But he had already eaten Peter Pan with a batch number that contained salmonella.
“This has ruined my life,” said Thomas, whose arthritis keeps him bedridden some days. He still has the half-empty jar of Peter Pan he believes made him sick for a lifetime.
And though he craves the nutty stuff, he reaches in his refrigerator for a slice or two of bologna.
Cox correspondent Chris Megerian contributed to this report.
© 2009 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
February 5, 2009
USA: Salmonella victims press for better food safety
.
ATLANTA, Georgia / Atlanta Journal-Constitution / February 5, 2009
Salmonella ruined me, former Buford man says
Victims press for better food safety
By Moni Basu, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Michael Thomas had nine siblings but he was the one who grew up as the “peanut butter kid.” His idea of a great meal was a classic PB&J: white bread slathered with jelly and half a jar of the creamy, nutty all-American spread.
But the last time he ate peanut butter was on Feb. 27, 2007
Gabrielle Meunier, the mother of a salmonella victim, speaks during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington on Wednesday. At right is Jeff Almer, whose mother died as a result of salmonella poisoning.Gerald Herbert/AP.
Two days later, Thomas woke up at his home in Buford with dry heaves, stomach cramps, diarrhea and bloody mucus. He was treated at Northside Hospital-Forsyth but two years later, Thomas is still sick.
He was diagnosed with a salmonella infection believed to be linked to Peter Pan, made at the ConAgra Foods plant in Sylvester, Ga., though no stool culture was taken to confirm it.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says 40,000 cases of salmonella poisoning are reported every year. About 400 people die, and a fraction of those who fall ill from the food-borne bacterial infection develop health issues that include chronic arthritis, eye irritation, irritable bowel syndrome, gall bladder problems and painful urination.
“It’s pain, pain and more pain,” Thomas said in an interview. “I had never been sick a day of my life. Then salmonella ruined me — physically, emotionally and financially.”
As victims of the recent outbreak of salmonella begin to speak out, those who continue to suffer, like Thomas, expressed disappointment that more Americans are falling ill.
So far, the outbreak linked to a Blakely, Ga., peanut processing plant has sickened 529 people, including six in Georgia, and may have contributed to the deaths of eight. The plant is owned by Peanut Corp. of America.
Thomas lent his name to a Washington news conference Wednesday in which U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) unveiled new legislation that would split the Food and Drug Administration into two separate agencies to ensure stricter food safety regulation.
He wanted the world to know how serious salmonella can be; that for some people, the damage is permanent.
“I did take some comfort in the belief after it happened to me that the system was fixed and would not happen to any more nice families…,” he said in his statement, “but here we are once again, literally right down the road from the very same plant I was poisoned from, with exactly the same situation but even more widespread that it was before.”
For the first 5 and 1/2 months, Thomas said, he could not even get out of bed. He took antibiotics for almost 11 months. He could no longer work as a real estate lender. He had no health insurance and visited emergency rooms when he felt extremely ill. He could not keep up with bills and lost his house.
“My life fell apart in Georgia,” said Thomas, 52, who moved from Buford to Detroit a year ago to be with his son.
Dr. W. Hayes Wilson, chief of rheumatology at Piedmont Hospital, said some people born with the HLA-B27 antigen on their cells are predisposed to developing reactive arthritis after suffering from bacterial infections, including salmonellosis.
“Genetics are the loaded gun. Salmonella pulls the trigger,” Wilson said.
In others, salmonella can lodge in the gall bladder and make that person a chronic carrier of the bacteria, said Dr. Carlos del Rio, chief of medicine at Grady Hospital.
“They may need gall bladder removal,” he said. “Or they could infect other people.”
Studies have also associated salmonella infections with gastric and bladder cancer.
Del Rio said people who already have weakened immune systems because of cancer or HIV could get extremely ill from bacterial infections. The very young and old — like Shirley Mae Almer, 72, of Savage, Minn. — are also more vulnerable.
Almer died Dec. 21 after eating contaminated peanut butter. She survived two seizures, a brain tumor and cancer spots on her right lung before her health rapidly deteriorated from salmonella poisoning.
Her son, Jeff Almer, described his mother as a woman with “sisu,” Finnish for someone with spunk.
“Cancer couldn’t claim her but peanut butter did,” he said at the food safety news conference. “Our family feels cheated. My mom should be with us today.”
In the latest outbreak, the CDC reports that the sick ranged in age from less than 1 years old to 98.
Gabrielle Meunier, from South Burlington, Vt., was lucky. Her 7-year-old son recovered after getting violently ill from contaminated crackers.
“He said, ‘Mommy, the pain hurts so much I want to die,’” she said at Wednesday’s press conference.
Meunier and the Almer family have both sued Peanut Corp of America.
But Meunier said she worries her son could face long-term consequences of such a serious infection.
Thomas believes she has a right to worry.
He said his father had called him after hearing about the ConAgra outbreak to warn the “peanut butter kid” to stay away from his staple. But he had already eaten Peter Pan with a batch number that contained salmonella.
“This has ruined my life,” said Thomas, whose arthritis keeps him bedridden some days. He still has the half-empty jar of Peter Pan he believes made him sick for a lifetime.
And though he craves the nutty stuff, he reaches in his refrigerator for a slice or two of bologna.
Cox correspondent Chris Megerian contributed to this report.
© 2009 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Gabrielle Meunier, the mother of a salmonella victim, speaks during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington on Wednesday. At right is Jeff Almer, whose mother died as a result of salmonella poisoning.Gerald Herbert/AP.
Two days later, Thomas woke up at his home in Buford with dry heaves, stomach cramps, diarrhea and bloody mucus. He was treated at Northside Hospital-Forsyth but two years later, Thomas is still sick.
He was diagnosed with a salmonella infection believed to be linked to Peter Pan, made at the ConAgra Foods plant in Sylvester, Ga., though no stool culture was taken to confirm it.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says 40,000 cases of salmonella poisoning are reported every year. About 400 people die, and a fraction of those who fall ill from the food-borne bacterial infection develop health issues that include chronic arthritis, eye irritation, irritable bowel syndrome, gall bladder problems and painful urination.
“It’s pain, pain and more pain,” Thomas said in an interview. “I had never been sick a day of my life. Then salmonella ruined me — physically, emotionally and financially.”
As victims of the recent outbreak of salmonella begin to speak out, those who continue to suffer, like Thomas, expressed disappointment that more Americans are falling ill.
So far, the outbreak linked to a Blakely, Ga., peanut processing plant has sickened 529 people, including six in Georgia, and may have contributed to the deaths of eight. The plant is owned by Peanut Corp. of America.
Thomas lent his name to a Washington news conference Wednesday in which U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) unveiled new legislation that would split the Food and Drug Administration into two separate agencies to ensure stricter food safety regulation.
He wanted the world to know how serious salmonella can be; that for some people, the damage is permanent.
“I did take some comfort in the belief after it happened to me that the system was fixed and would not happen to any more nice families…,” he said in his statement, “but here we are once again, literally right down the road from the very same plant I was poisoned from, with exactly the same situation but even more widespread that it was before.”
For the first 5 and 1/2 months, Thomas said, he could not even get out of bed. He took antibiotics for almost 11 months. He could no longer work as a real estate lender. He had no health insurance and visited emergency rooms when he felt extremely ill. He could not keep up with bills and lost his house.
“My life fell apart in Georgia,” said Thomas, 52, who moved from Buford to Detroit a year ago to be with his son.
Dr. W. Hayes Wilson, chief of rheumatology at Piedmont Hospital, said some people born with the HLA-B27 antigen on their cells are predisposed to developing reactive arthritis after suffering from bacterial infections, including salmonellosis.
“Genetics are the loaded gun. Salmonella pulls the trigger,” Wilson said.
In others, salmonella can lodge in the gall bladder and make that person a chronic carrier of the bacteria, said Dr. Carlos del Rio, chief of medicine at Grady Hospital.
“They may need gall bladder removal,” he said. “Or they could infect other people.”
Studies have also associated salmonella infections with gastric and bladder cancer.
Del Rio said people who already have weakened immune systems because of cancer or HIV could get extremely ill from bacterial infections. The very young and old — like Shirley Mae Almer, 72, of Savage, Minn. — are also more vulnerable.
Almer died Dec. 21 after eating contaminated peanut butter. She survived two seizures, a brain tumor and cancer spots on her right lung before her health rapidly deteriorated from salmonella poisoning.
Her son, Jeff Almer, described his mother as a woman with “sisu,” Finnish for someone with spunk.
“Cancer couldn’t claim her but peanut butter did,” he said at the food safety news conference. “Our family feels cheated. My mom should be with us today.”
In the latest outbreak, the CDC reports that the sick ranged in age from less than 1 years old to 98.
Gabrielle Meunier, from South Burlington, Vt., was lucky. Her 7-year-old son recovered after getting violently ill from contaminated crackers.
“He said, ‘Mommy, the pain hurts so much I want to die,’” she said at Wednesday’s press conference.
Meunier and the Almer family have both sued Peanut Corp of America.
But Meunier said she worries her son could face long-term consequences of such a serious infection.
Thomas believes she has a right to worry.
He said his father had called him after hearing about the ConAgra outbreak to warn the “peanut butter kid” to stay away from his staple. But he had already eaten Peter Pan with a batch number that contained salmonella.
“This has ruined my life,” said Thomas, whose arthritis keeps him bedridden some days. He still has the half-empty jar of Peter Pan he believes made him sick for a lifetime.
And though he craves the nutty stuff, he reaches in his refrigerator for a slice or two of bologna.
Cox correspondent Chris Megerian contributed to this report.
© 2009 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
