Updated: Friday, January 21, 2005
- KOEBELS GET JAIL, HOUSE ARREST IN WALKERTON WATER TRAGEDY
- EXAMINATION FINDS WALKERTON WELLS SUSCEPTIBLE TO FARM RUNOFF
- WALKERTON WARNED IN 1998: LAWSUIT E.COLI OUTBREAK IN DAY CARE CITED AS PROOF OF CRISIS
- NO PLANS FOR LONG-TERM E.COLI STUDY
- SOME WALKERTON RESIDENTS SUFFER E.coli COMPLICATIONS
- WALKERTON RESIDENTS WANT E.COLI TESTS
- FOUR NEW CASES OF E.coli FOUND, OFFICIALS SAY
- CATTLE PRODUCERS REGRET WALKERTON LINK
- DEADLY E.COLI TRACED TO CATTLE
- FARMERS TRY TO BE RESPONSIBLE
- OFFICE OF THE CHIEF CORONER CONCLUDES SIX DEATHS ARE RELATED TO E.COLI OUTBREAK IN WALKERTON
- E.COLI IN NUNAVUT
- TESTING IMMINENT FOR E.COLI VACCINE: LOCALLY DEVELOPED VACCINE HELPS FLUSH BACTERIA FROM BEEF
- E.COLI CONTAMINATED HAMBURGER RECALLED
- 33 SICKENED BY BEEF TAINTED WITH E.COLI
- INVESTIGATION INTO DEATHS RELATED TO E.COLI OUTBREAK IN WALKERTON, ONTARIO
- Canada E.coli death toll may rise to 18
- INVESTIGATION INTO DEATHS RELATED TO E.COLI OUTBREAK IN WALKERTON, ONTARIO
- LIQUID MANURE USED AS FERTILIZER COULD BE E.COLI CULPRIT, SAYS SCIENTIST
- SICKNESS IN WALKERTON FAR MORE WIDESPREAD: AS MANY AS 2,000 PEOPLE REPORTED ILL
- TECHNICAL INVESTIGATION FOCUSES ON SUPPLY WELLS AND AQUIFERS
- LIMITING MANURE POSSIBLE SOLUTION; FACTORY FARMS MAY FACE NEW CONTROLS
- AS MANY AS 11 DEATHS POSSIBLY LINKED TO E.COLI OUTBREAK
- HEALTH CANADA SAW DANGER TO DISTRICT STUDY 5 YEARS AGO WARNED THAT RESIDENTS WERE AT HIGH RISK OF INFECTION
- Water safety fears rise on E.coli outbreak
- ONTARIO MINISTRY OF THE ENVIRONMENT WALKERTON WATER SITUATION -- CLARIFICATION
- ANOTHER DEATH `IS IMMINENT' ELDERLY VICTIM CHOOSES PALLIATIVE CARE AS NUMBER OF NEW PATIENTS DECLINES
- WALKERTON IN MOURNING
- AN OLD AND DEADLY ENEMY LAYS SIEGE TO WALKERTON
- CLASS-ACTION SUIT LAUNCHED AGAINST TOWN ALLEGES NEGLIGENCE IN FAILING TO REPORT E.COLI
- In Canada, E.coli outbreak kills FIVE
- DEADLY E.COLI OUTBREAK CLAIMS ITS FOURTH VICTIM
- HEALTH OFFICIAL'S STATEMENT ON CANADIAN E.COLI OUTBREAK
- DRINKING WATER BLAMED FOR E.COLI OUTBREAK IN ONTARIO TOWN
Dec. 20, 2004
WALKERTON, Ont. - The former manager of Walkerton's utilities commission was jailed for one year Monday for his role in the 2000
tainted water tragedy,
while his foreman brother was sentenced to nine months of house arrest.
In sentencing Stan and Frank Koebel, Ontario Superior Court Justice Bruce Durno acknowledged the "enormous" suffering that resulted from the water contamination, which killed seven and sickened 2,500 in this tiny southern Ontario town.
August 30, 2000
TORONTO -- A study ordered after May's devastating E.coli outbreak has, according to this story, found one of the wells that supplied water to people in Walkerton, Ont., is susceptible to farm runoff.
The story says that while the Ministry of the Environment said it's still too soon to conclude how Walkerton's water supply became contaminated, a report released Wednesday clearly links May's tainted-water tragedy to nearby farms.
Well 5 has been suspected as a possible source of the tainted water from the start.
The well, located on the south side of town, was contaminated with E.coli and coliform for some time before the outbreak, and torrential rains in mid-May may have made the situation worse. The story cites the report as saying that well 5 draws water from a shallow aquifer and is located within a few meters of fields on which farmers spread manure - a known source of E.coli - as well as other chemicals.
The well is also 30 meters from two springs that stop flowing when water is being pumped into the town. The report by Golder and Associates, a firm based in London, Ont. was quoted as saying, "During pumping, water lying on the surface of the ground around one of the springs was observed to flow back down into the ground and, within one hour, turbid water was seen entering the well."
The well is also within a few hundred meters of several fuel storage tanks - both above and below ground, the report notes.
When testing was done in May, Well 5 was found to be contaminated with the E.coli bacteria.
Interim findings from the hydrogeological study suggest Well 5 should be abandoned.
"It is our considered opinion that this well is not secure, nor could it be made adequately secure," the report said. A final hydrogeological report is expected in early September, Newman added.
Meanwhile, the town's newest and most productive well - Well 7 - which was also found to be contaminated in May, provides good quality water, the report said.
The May contamination remains under investigation but "Well 7 appears to be a secure groundwater supply," it said.
The investigation also found that Well 2, which has not been used for some time, was not properly taken out of service as required under ministry guidelines. Nor was there any documentation provided by the Walkerton Public Utilities Commission on the abandonment.
August 25, 2000
A class-action lawsuit was cited as alleging that four children in Walkerton were infected by the E.coli O157:H7 bacteria two years ago and that should have been a warning to officials that the town's water was contaminated.
The story says that the allegation that the 1998 illnesses indicated contaminated water is part of a $300 million lawsuit against Walkerton Public Utilities Commission, its manager Stan Koebel, the Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound health unit and the town.
The suit has been filed in Ontario Superior Court on behalf of some Walkerton residents affected by last spring's E.coli O157:H7 outbreak. None of the lawsuit's allegations have been proven in court.
An affidavit filed in June as part of the lawsuit alleges that the E.coli outbreak in 1998 also should have served as a warning to officials that Walkerton's water was unsafe.
The affidavit of Jamie Smith of Walkerton, one of four lead plaintiffs in the action, was quoted as saying, "(They) knew or ought to have known that the delivery of water to Walkerton was compromised and contaminated and susceptible to compromise and contamination by bacteria, including E.coli O157."
Smith's son Eric was one of four pupils at the same private day care who fell ill with E.coli in Walkerton in the summer of 1998.
According to a 1998 report by the Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound health unit, 17-month-old Eric became feverish and began suffering from diarrhea on July 23. He was taken to hospital, where tests revealed he had contracted the E.coli O157:H7 bacteria. The affidavit does not state whether Eric was admitted to hospital or how long he took to recover.
Last May, Eric - now 3 years old - contracted the same strain of E.coli again during the Walkerton water crisis, and was sick with fever and diarrhea. His parents and older sister also became ill.
When the children at the day care tested positive for E.coli strain O157:H7 in 1998, the Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound health unit investigated. The health unit is now one of the defendants in the lawsuit.
In an interview this week, Dr. Walter Ewing, associate medical officer of health for the unit, was cited as saying that one of the children became sick first, followed by three others and that the health unit's investigation could not pinpoint the source of infection, adding, "It was never determined what the source was," and suggesting it was more likely the contamination was from a food source, such as meat, than from water.
August 16, 2000
Dr. Walter Ewing, the local associate medical officer of health, was cited as saying many Walkerton residents may have built up an immunity that saved them through long-term exposure to the deadly E.coli bug, but itıs unlikely he'll get any hard data to back that opinion because no one is planning to do a major follow-up of the Walkerton outbreak to study that possibility, which would involve monitoring people for years, adding, "It would be very time consuming. It would require a lot of expertise to do that kind of study."
The story says while he has suggested the possibility to federal and provincial health officials, he hasn't had any takers.
Health Canada spokesperson Margot Geduld was cited as saying that Health Canada doctors have been studying the E.coli outbreak, but only to determine the "definite cause and (its) extent."
A Health Canada epidemiologic study being done for the Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound Health Unit is due in about one month. It's using more than 1,400 responses to a survey filled out during the outbreak.
Ewing has no evidence people in Walkerton have been exposed to E.coli over a long period, but noted a study in Collingwood after that townıs water was contaminated with crypotosporidium in 1996 found "that people who had been drinking Collingwood's water for years were less likely to become severely ill" from the parasite.
Collingwoodıs experience was similar to Walkerton's in that people got very sick after as little exposure to it as a glass of water in a restaurant, he said.
August 15, 2000
WALKERTON - Some Walkerton residents can, according to these stories, no longer digest dairy products and in some cases fresh fruit because the E.coli bacteria has stripped natural enzymes from their bowels. Dr. Walter Ewing, associate medical officer of health for Bruce-Grey-Owen-Sound was quoted as saying yesterday that, "A number of people have smoldering bowel problems, they are getting terrible cramping.''
Yesterday afternoon Brockton town Council had received a memo from Ewing stating that an additional E.coli case was confirmed yesterday bringing the number to five confirmed since Aug. 1, said town public relations spokesperson Lisa Volpini. Ewing defends his decision not to inform Walkerton residents at a town hall meeting on Thursday about four new E.coli cases diagnosed last week.
All four cases involved children under 10, said Dianne Waram, a spokesperson for the South Bruce Grey Health Centre.
One of the four resulted from secondary infection - contact with feces containing the bacteria. Another was not related to Walkerton water. The other two suffered mild symptoms after drinking Walkerton water in May, but at the time were not confirmed as having an E.coli infection. They were tested and confirmed as E.coli victims in last few days after suffering severe symptoms recently, said Ewing.
All four children suffered bloody diarrhea, but were treated as outpatients and sent home. Three other patients who showed symptoms consistent with an E.coli infection have tested negative for the bacteria, Waram said. Two who lived on properties with private wells, however, tested positive for Campylobacter - a less virulent bacteria that leads to E.coli-like symptoms, such as telltale bloody diarrhea.
Health officials are, the stories say, surprised that nearly three months after drinking the contaminated water, some residents are still testing positive for E.coli which indicates the bacteria is a persistent strain, Dr. Ewing was also cited as saying that because several residents were having recurring symptoms due to the E.coli outbreak, he didn't think the diagnosis of four more cases "was something to dwell on. Obviously, I was wrong.''
Walkerton resident Veronica Davidson was cited as saying that getting the information piecemeal through the media instead of at Thursday night's meeting caused untold anguish in the community over the weekend, adding, "To not tell us is obviously undervaluing our concerns. We need to be kept informed. It's troubling to think that lesson has not been learned.''
Dr. Ewing was further quoted as saying, "I didn't have all the information, and in fact, not all of these cases were totally investigated until the next day. I'd really be loath to stand up in public and talk about something we didn't have full information on. I think that would be unfair to people, and I may be wrong, but I didn't think it was newsworthy that there were old cases that were being diagnosed. ... We have kept records since 1993, and the background rate ranges from 11 to 24 cases a year. We expect a certain number of cases each summer because there are so many possible sources, especially if a child is petting a cat or drinking unpasteurized milk."
But Bruce Davidson of the ad hoc lobby group Concerned Walkerton Citizens was cited as saying the medical officer's words are little reassurance to a town still drinking bottled water, adding, "Once again, the sidewalk was rolled up on Friday evening and the information store closed. When you have a situation where people are having recurrences of E.coli, it's of major concern to all of us. We are more than put off by that kind of approach to our health and welfare. They're now suggesting we've been exposed to E.coli,
Campylobacter, salmonella and probably about six different parasites. At the same time, the government is putting out its compensation package. It would seem rather premature to settle the car insurance claim when you're still skidding down the highway with the risk of flipping into the ditch."
August 15, 2000
WALKERTON-Local residents are, according to this story, so fed up with information being withheld from them about the E.coli situation, they are demanding that every man, woman and child in the town of about 5,000 be tested for the deadly bacteria.
Bruce Davidson, spokesman for the Concerned Walkerton Citizens, was cited as saying he will ask health officials to take blood and stool samples from everyone in the community so an accurate understanding of the health of the community can be gained, adding, "The community is battered, bruised and traumatized."
The story says that Dr. Walter Ewing, associate medical officer of health for Bruce-Grey-Owen-Sound, admitted Monday he erred in not informing the public last week that four new cases of E.coli infection had been diagnosed in Walkerton.
But Davidson said Walkerton residents are fed up with getting bits and drabs of news concerning latest developments in the water crisis that made thousands ill and that the fact that information was withheld at a public briefing last week has caused people to lose trust and confidence in health officials.
August 14, 2000
More than a month after health officials said there were no reports of new cases of E.coli bacteria in the community, four people have, according to this story, been infected by the deadly bacteria and three others have similar symptoms.
Dr. Walter Ewing, associate medical officer of health with the Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound, was cited as saying the new cases appeared to be secondary infections, in which people contract the disease from others, and not the direct result of Walkerton's water supply that now appears to be free of E.coli.
But the new infection have health officials worried that the deadly strain of E.coli 0157:H7 that killed six people and sickened hundreds more in mid-May could be even more dangerous than previously thought. Dr. Ewing was cited as saying the persistent nature of this strain of bacteria may explain why new cases are still being reported, adding, "It's really unusual that people would get so sick after being better. Iım hoping itıs not a new bug with greater virulence."
Dr. Ewing said the four confirmed cases, reported in the past two weeks, were people who have not been previously identified as having E.coli. Dr. Ewing was further cited as saying the new cases suggest the bacteria may still be alive inside people who were infected before the town's boil water advisory came into effect on May 23, and that the latest victims could have contracted it from others -- a problem that could risk the health of people who have not yet contracted the disease.
Meanwhile, there is concern that the bacteria may not be gone from the hundreds of people who were sickened in May.
The alarm was raised in July, when a victim tested positive for E.coli after having tested negative twice since they had been infected. Up until that point, officials advised residents that two negative tests without further symptoms were an indication the victim was free of infection.
Dr. Ewing was cited as saying it could mean there are several variations of the illness, resulting in the large number of people infected in May, adding, "The book said there's no relapse. We felt the maximum (infectious period) was 60 days. This is not what we expected to find."
On Sunday, Dr. Ewing refused to comment two days after he confirmed there were four more cases, as well as three others in which patients have similar symptoms. Mayor David Thomson was quoted as telling CBC-TV outside his home that, "To know something like this, and spend the whole weekend trying to find out is unacceptable."
He added he has been unable to reach health officials to confirm the reports.
Residents were angered that Ewing made no mention of the new cases at a town hall meeting last week.
"It's quite serious for everyone in the town of Walkerton," one woman told the broadcaster, while walking along the townıs main street. "It's quite bad."
"Thereıs something not quite right about that," added another. "Weıre talking about peopleıs lives."
Walkerton resident Joe Rys was quoted as saying, "You can put up with having to use bottled water, but this kind of uncertainty is unbearable. ... Once again weıve been left in the lurch."
His 5-year-old granddaughter, Jacqueline Spitzig, is recovering from a severe E.coli infection after being administered the experimental drug Synsorb Pk at the Grey Bruce Regional Health Centre in Owen Sound in early June. Elaine Crilly, who became sick in May, was cited as saying she fears the recent cases may be just the tip of the iceberg, adding, ``I knew this was going to happen. I'm heartsick. I fear there's going to be a lot more cases yet.ıı
"I'm dumbfounded," former Walkerton mayor Ken Hartman said yesterday, adding he had grave concerns that residents may have been kept in the dark again, but refused further comment until he had more details. Ewing and McQuigge could not be reached for comment yesterday.
Bruce Davidson, spokesperson for Concerned Walkerton Citizens, a 500-member group formed in response to the E.coli tragedy, was cited as calling the situation horrific, adding, "Here we go again. What kind of guessing game are we expected to play?" pointing out that itıs not clear if the recent cases are recurring symptoms of an earlier infection, secondary infections, or new infections in people who have been incubating the bacteria for nearly three months.
The London Free Press was able to contact Dr. Ewing yesterday, and quoted him as saying, "Why would we talk about three cases at the Thursday meeting? It's a sidebar to the whole thing."
And contrary to earlier reports, evidence E.coli is hanging on doesn't necessarily mean it's a particularly virulent strain, he said yesterday. The proportion of deaths and kidney failures in the May outbreak is consistent with other E.coli outbreaks, Ewing said.
August 4, 2000
Ontario Cattlemen's Association press release
Walkerton -- The potential link of E.coli O157:H7 to a Walkerton-area beef farm highlights the need for continued vigilance against this natural pathogen.
"Dave Biesenthal is a good producer, has less than 100 cattle, was among the first farmers in Ontario to complete the Environmental Farm Plan (EFP), and has taken numerous steps to responsibly manage the manure produced by his animals," said OCA President Stan Eby. Biesenthal stores his manure on a cement pad to prevent runoff, has fenced all waterways on his farm to keep his cattle out and used his EFP grant to put eavestroughs on his barn which direct rainwater away from his manure pile. Biesenthal also avoids spreading manure on snow or on frozen ground and after spreading manure in the spring, incorporates it into the soil as soon as possible so as to minimize the effects of runoff.
"This potential linkage could have happened to anyone," Eby emphasized. This is a pathogen that naturally exists in all ruminants cattle, sheep, goats, deer and that is why many precautions, including chlorination of municipal water systems, are put in place."
"Yes, testing may eventually show his cattle to carry the particular strain of bacteria that hit the town with such tragic results but so could tests on many other farms in the area," Eby continued. He cautioned that these results be reviewed in context with the whole investigation before any further conclusions are drawn.
Manure from a percentage of all cattle contains E.coli O157:H7, as does manure from a similar percentage of other ruminants, including deer, goats, and sheep. Farmers know this and do everything they can to reduce the risks through clean operations, environmental farm plans and nutrient management plans. Cattle producers and processors have, for years, funded research efforts to further understand E.coli O157:H7 and to develop intervention techniques to reduce the risk, on the farm and elsewhere.
In light of the Walkerton situation, the Ontario Cattlemen's Association has set aside money for additional research funding into E.coli O157:H7. This is in addition to the $250,000 committed to E.coli and water quality projects in the last three years. The Canadian Cattlemen's Association has also promised further research into the issue of E.coli O157:H7 and is planning a national conference to address ways of managing the pathogen.
http://cattle.guelph.on.ca/communications/oca-comm.html
"THIS COULD BE THE ORIGIN OF THE PROBLEM"
August 4, 2000
Walkerton, Ont. -- The deadly strain of E.coli that killed six people in Walkerton has, according to this story, been found in cattle at a farm near the notorious well No. 5, a source of drinking water so contaminated that it has been closed since May.
Investigators are scouring the farm's soil daily and are about to begin digging test wells on the property of a veterinarian where they have found the E.coli O157:H7 bacteria in a number of Limousin cows.
Dr. David Biesenthal was quoted as saying, "I know this could potentially be the origin of the problem. But what can I do about it? Go out and shoot my cows? It's easy to say this is the origin. But how did it get from here to the well? I didn't take a bucket of manure from here and throw it down the well." Dr. Biesenthal, who also farms 565 hectares of cash crops, was cited as saying he has followed all farming guidelines rigorously. He said that he didn't even know there was a well so close to his property that provided the town with its drinking water until the outbreak struck the community of 5,000 in late May.
Investigators found the E.coli strain a few weeks ago after taking fecal samples from Dr. Biesenthal's cows. They have been conducting DNA tests to see if they can trace the bacteria back to the herd. However, they say they may never know with certainty the origins of the contaminated water that caused nearly half of the town to fall ill. The story says they have also found the E.coli strain in other cows in the area, and have yet to rule out either the town's well No. 6 or No. 7 as possible sources of the contamination.
Peter Harrison, a spokesman for the Ontario Clean Water Agency, which has taken over the operation of the Public Utilities Commission during the investigation, was quoted as saying, "It's a mystery that may never be solved."
But the story cites sources as saying that no other farms where the strain has been found are in such close proximity to any of the town's three main wells.
Dr. Biesenthal says he hopes that investigators will eventually be able to rule out his 95 beef cattle as the source of the deadly bacteria. Investigators are expected to release a report next month in which they hope to identify the source of the contamination. Dr. Biesenthal expects to be in Australia at the time to cheer on his daughter Larissa, who is competing in the Olympics as a rower. He says his spirits have understandably been dampened ever since investigators traced E.coli back to his farm.
"Larissa feels really bad about what's happened here in Walkerton. She's hoping to win a gold medal for the town," he said. Still, he says that even if the source of contamination is from his cattle, the fault clearly lies within the water system.
"I personally think that we are taking the onus from what happened 40 or 50 years ago. I know this well would never have been dug there now. . . . The fault is at that end. Not at mine," he said.
Investigators are also now beginning to consider the possibility that the entire aquifer (the body of water underground which supplies the well) is contaminated.
August 1, 2000
Liquid manure from Ontarioıs livestock farms has come into the cross-hairs of concern about bacterial contamination of Ontarioıs drinking water. Environment Commissioner Gord Miller scored a bull's-eye with a report he issued last week, highlighting the lack of laws governing liquid manure. President Jack Wilkinson of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture accepted the criticism, said the vast majority of farmers are trying to be responsible and reminded the public that farm groups have, themselves, been asking for legislation and regulations to crack down on abuse.
Farm groups, including the Ontario Federation of Agriculture, formed a coalition called The Ontario Farm Environmental Commission when the NDP government was in charge at Queenıs Park and threatening to enact an environmental bill of rights. The farmers decided it would be better to take voluntary action than wait for the government to hit their industry hard.
Their first response, which began about 10 years ago, was the Environmental Farm Plan program, which is an extensive and detailed audit of everything on a farm that could be an environmental problem. This audits remain confidential and the program is voluntary. It has been heavily subsidized by the federal and provincial governments, yet less than half of the provinceıs farmers have completed an audit and prepared an action plan for their farm. On the other hand, those who have done the work probably account for 75 per cent or more of the land and production.
The second response, which was launched three years ago, is Nutrient Management Plans. Itıs for manure, including standards for storage facilities, adequate land for spreading all the manure produced and commitments governing the timing and density of manure applications. Many municipalities have passed bylaws requiring farmers to prepare and file a Nutrient Management Plan as a condition for obtaining a building permit to erect a new barn or an addition. The municipal politicians are typically responding to neighborhood concerns about proposals to build large hog barns.
What these municipalities lack is provincial legislation and a system to enforce compliance with these Nutrient Management Plans. Agriculture Minister Ernie Hardeman and Environment Minister Dan Newman appointed their legislative assistants to conduct a study of intensive farming systems last winter, and their report recommends province-wide standards, legislation to put teeth behind the Nutrient Management Plans and provincial government enforcement teams to back municipal-level administration. Rather than act immediately, Hardeman has called for another round of consultations. Some municipalities have gone further than implementing tough and detailed bylaws governing livestock manure. Ashfield Township in Huron County, responding to citizens who are opposed to large hog barns that have gone up in their community, passed a bylaw a few months ago imposing a moratorium on all new barns and expansions that involve liquid manure systems. A township near Peterborough did the same.
Ashfield has also asked the province to conduct a thorough study to determine if liquid manure pollutes surface and underground drinking water supplies.
All of this happened before the disaster at Walkerton, where many think manure will be found to be the source of the E.coli 0157:H7 bacteria held responsible for six deaths and hundreds who suffered severe abdominal illness. An official inquiry is underway. Wilkinson of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture is urging the public to reserve its opinion about farmers until the source of that E.coli contamination can be established. Some have jumped on the Walkerton situation to promote their point of view, including the organic-farming community that favors manure composting instead of liquid systems. A liquid system means little straw or bedding has been used, and typically the concrete stable floor is slatted so the manure falls through cracks and either collects there, or runs to an outdoor storage tank.
Studies by federal government researchers working at a lab at London, Ont., have shown that most disease-causing bacteria are killed during properly-managed composting, which is what organic farmers do with manure-soaked straw bedding.
Other studies indicate that sunlight kills a high percentage of bacteria when manure is spread on the soil surface.
But spreading on the surface also brings neighborhood complaints about odour and much of the nitrogen content, which is the most valuable fertilizer component of livestock manure, evaporates. Thatıs why some farmers inject liquid manure under the soil surface.
Some worry that this poses a threat to drinking water because liquid manure contains a lot of harmful bacteria.
Dr. Michael Goss of the University of Guelph has cautioned that some of these bacteria, including E.coli 0157:H7, can survive for weeks or even months when theyıre in underground water.
Liquid manure has become a hot issue. Farm leaders saw it coming years ago, and tried to take a lead with the Environmental Farm Plan program and the Nutrient Management Plan. Theyıve been voluntary so far, but they will probably become compulsory.
The farm leaders were right to call for legislation so Nutrient Management Plans can be enforced. Now itıs sure to happen. What I think we need now is a thorough review of the scientific literature to ascertain whether liquid manure systems can be properly managed so this stinky stuff stays out of our drinking water. And from that literature search, we need to know whether there are worrisome knowledge gaps that require more research. What we can do without is panic reactions and hot rhetoric that shuts down sound thinking.
July 26, 2000
TORONTO -- The Office of the Chief Coroner announced today that the Expert Committee has finished its review of the 21 deaths that were being investigated. It concluded that six deaths were related to the E.Coli outbreak.
The deaths have been broken down into the following categories: Four deaths were directly due to the E.Coli outbreak in Walkerton. Two deaths were due to other diseases but E.coli was a contributing factor. Fourteen deaths were NOT attributable at all to the E.Coli outbreak in Walkerton.
One death could not be assigned to any of the above categories due to insufficient evidence.
The Office of the Chief Coroner will not release details on the six cases related to the Walkerton E.Coli outbreak until next of kin have been notified.
Details of how the Expert Panel came to the above conclusions will be released during the OıConnor Inquiry.
The outside experts on the Committee who were working with senior officials from the Office of the Chief Coroner were: Dr. James Brunton, Director of the Division of Infectious Disease, Department of Medicine, University of Toronto; Dr. Brian Steele, Pediatric Nephrologist, McMaster Medical Health Centre; and Dr. Lesbia Smith, Epidemiologist.
If any further deaths are reported, they will be reviewed by the Expert Committee.
June 29, 2000
Winnipeg -- At least 13 people have, according to this story, fallen ill in the northern territory of Nunavut after eating ground beef contaminated with E.coli O157:H7.
Dr. Ann Roberts, chief medical officer for the territory of 24,000 people, was cited as saying the latest two cases confirmed this week were in the community of Arviat, and officials are awaiting laboratory results on another four suspected cases.
Dr. Roberts was further cited as confirming 13 cases of E.coli O157:H7 contamination in Nunavut since late March, and while there have been no fatalities three children have developed serious kidney damage as a result of the outbreak.
Dr. Roberts said the cases were spread among five of Nunavut's 26 communities. All are believed to have been caused by people eating undercooked hamburger meat, adding, "These numbers are at odds with the number of usual occurrences."
She also said that none of the cases is linked to last week's recall of more than 122 tons of beef from stores across Southern Canada.
"All of these individuals admitted to eating raw hamburger or grossly undercooked hamburger," she said, adding her office has issued a medical bulletin warning the public to ensure ground beef is well cooked before consumption.
June 26, 2000
Glen Armstrong, who is leading a University of Alberta team developing a vaccine to prevent E.coli from sticking to the intestinal tract of cattle so the nasty organisms can be flushed out of the animal's system and out of harm's way to humans was cited as saying the vaccine will soon be tested by the Veterinary Infectious Diseases Organization in Saskatoon.
The story says that an effective vaccine could potentially eliminate the public health hazard that forced the recall of thousands of kilograms of hamburger Friday and Saturday. It could also be used on those humans who are most vulnerable to the infection.
The story adds that the animal itself is not affected by the presence of the organisms. But with gut chambers capable of holding 75 liters, the average cow can be home to billions and billions of E.coli organisms.
Humans, says Armstrong, can get infected in two primary ways: by drinking contaminated water or eating contaminated meat.
Invariably, the E.coli is excreted by the cattle. Once on the ground, the organisms can be transported by rain and runoff to sources of drinking water such as wells, dugouts, lakes or streams.
"That's very likely what happened in Walkerton," says Armstrong, referring to the southern Ontario town in which at least 18 people died as a result of drinking E.coli-contaminated water.
"But people can get infected by another route. When cattle are shipped for slaughter, their pelts are often contaminated with fecal matter. If the E.coli is present in the feces, it's relatively easy for it to be carried over to the carcass and get into the meat."
The Canada Alberta Beef Industry Fund, has given Armstrong and his team $203,000 for development of the vaccine.
June 24,2000
Lakeside, an Alberta-based meat packer, was cited as recalling more than 77,000 kilograms of ground beef Friday after a supermarket chain discovered a deadly strain of E.coli bacteria in a batch of meat. All provinces except Newfoundland and Prince Edward Island were included in the company's recall.
The recall covered only Lakeside's raw meat and not secondary products, such as prepared patties, produced by other companies that are Lakeside clients. However late Friday night, Sobeys Inc., the second largest food distribution company in Canada, urged customers at several of its stores to return unconsumed ground beef purchased between May 31 and June 18.
The company said in a release that meat contaminated with E.coli O157:H7 could have been shipped to its stores in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. The affected food chains include IGA, Garden Market IGA, Price Chopper and Food Towns.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency also released a list of more than 20 Lakeside customers in Canada and the United States that may have received the tainted meat.
Earlier Friday, Costco Wholesale Group alerted the public to the problem with their own voluntary recall of about 10,000 kilograms of beef supplied by Lakeside from 30 Costco locations in Quebec, Ontario, Saskatchewan, Alberta and B.C.
No reported illnesses have been associated with consuming any of the contaminated meat.
However, many doctors and hospitals across the country have been alerted and are watching for any E.coli-related symptoms. The recall was ordered after Costco, one of the company's 100-plus retail customers, found traces of E .coli 0157:H7 during a random test Thursday at one of its supermarket shelves.
"In an abundance of caution, we're conducting this recall,'' said Gary Mickelson, a spokesman for Lakeside.
"There's no danger as long as (people) properly handle their meat.''
Because the hamburger has an 18-day shelf life, it's unlikely that any raw meat from the May 31 batch remains in stores.
On Friday, Lakeside's parent IBP, one of the largest meat packers in North America, recalled a further 120,000 kilograms of ground beef, produced on May 13, in 25 U.S. states. Lakeside recently underwent a $300 million expansion, and expects to supply over one-third of Canada's total beef production by the end of next year.
Earlier this week, a Quebec-based grocery chain recalled ground beef sold at more than 25 of its stores after three people became ill from
E.coli bacteria.
Provincial government labs found two samples of hamburger had the bacteria. The meat was sold at Maxi and Maxi Cie stores in the Montreal area, in the Outaouais region and in Rimouski.
June 22, 2000
An E.coli outbreak blamed on tainted beef has, according to this story, hit the South Shore, sending 33 people to hospital in the past two months. The story says that some of the contaminated meat has been traced to the Maxi grocery chain, which yesterday recalled ground beef sold in 29 stores across Quebec since mid-May.
Public-health authorities have identified four people who fell ill because of E.coli bacteria after buying hamburger at Maxi and Maxi & Cie stores. One person was from the South Shore, another from Montreal and two from the Outaouais region.
The Maxi chain decided to recall the minced meat after provincial food inspectors discovered the presence of the potentially deadly bacteria in samples taken from a store in Saint-Luc on the South Shore during a routine spot check on June 19.
Laurent Pepin, Maxi's director of communications, was quoted as saying, "The public can be assured that we are taking all necessary measures to guarantee that our products are safe, including ground beef. But ground beef is a food that requires appropriate treatment and handling." The contaminated beef found in the Saint-Luc Maxi store was handled by a meat-preparation plant in Boisbriand. That same plant supplies 28 other Maxi stores in the province.
The Maxi chain took out advertisements in newspapers yesterday listing all the affected stores and offering full refunds on beef purchased with a best-before date from May 20 to June 19.
South Shore hospitals reported a surge in E.coli cases during that same period.
Dr. Luc Boileau, director of the Monteregie Public Health Department, was cited as saying that he repeatedly warned South Shore residents of possible E.coli contamination through the news media in recent weeks, adding, "I did inform the population earlier in May when Walkerton was the principal headline in the news."
Boileau said he made similar pronouncements last week after E.coli-tainted meat was linked to a Saint-Hyacinthe grocery store that is not part of the Maxi chain.
Public-health officials were careful to stress that not all cases of E.coli sickness can be attributed to Maxi stores. In fact, a Costco outlet in Saint-Jerome was found to have sold contaminated ground beef two weeks ago. Dr. Jean Kamanzi, a microbiologist and veterinarian with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency was quoted as saying, "There may be many sources. We have slaughterhouse plants in western Canada and central Ontario, and some meat that is imported."
Meat slaughtered in Quebec and sold only in the province is subject to provincial inspections. All raw meat that is exported abroad or transported interprovincially is inspected by the federal government. Inspectors and veterinarians are assigned daily to abattoirs, checking the livestock before slaughter and conducting post-mortems.
"When we find defects we tighten procedures, put in more controls and increase inspections," Kamanzi said.
The provincial Agriculture Department carries out surprise inspections of meat sold in stores. Most inspections are done once every two years, but stores with a poor record can be visited every two months.
June 20, 2000
TORONTO, -- Dr. James Young, Chief Coroner for Ontario, today announced the Office of the Chief Coroner has added four more deaths to its investigation surrounding the E-Coli outbreak in Walkerton, Ontario. These additional deaths were reported to the Office of the Chief Coroner by the Ontario Provincial Police, and raise the total number of possible related E-coli deaths in the Walkerton area being investigated by the Office of the Chief Coroner to 18.
Added to the ongoing investigation are the deaths of a 90-year-old man who died in Hanover on April 12; an 86-year-old woman who died in Walkerton on May 12; a 96-year-old man who died in Walkerton on May 30; and a 25-year-old man who died in Walkerton on June 19. The investigation will determine if the deaths are related to the E-Coli outbreak in Walkerton.
June 20, 2000
TORONTO - The death toll from an outbreak of deadly E.coli bacteria that swept through a small Ontario town last month may be raised to 18, Canadian health officials said on Tuesday.
Health officials said they were investigating four more deaths that could be linked to the E.coli outbreak in Walkerton, Ontario, a farming community of 5,000 about 200 kilometers (125 miles) northwest of Toronto.
Ontario's chief coroner said four more deaths had been reported to the provincial police, raising the total number of possible related E.coli deaths in the Walkerton area to 18.
Police added the deaths of an elderly man and woman as well as a 25-year-old man in Walkerton to their investigation. The death of an elderly man in nearby Hanover is also being looked into.
Health authorities have confirmed that at least seven people died from water contaminated by E.coli bacteria during the epidemic, which began in late May and affected about 2,000 people in and around Walkerton.
E.coli (Escherichia coli) is a common bacteria usually found in the intestines of humans and animals. Some strains - like the often lethal 0157 variety that hit Walkerton - can cause dangerous, even life-threatening, infections.
Officials do not yet know exactly how the deadly bug got into Walkerton's water system but suspect heavy rains may have washed infected manure into the farming community's wells.
June 15, 2000
TORONTO -- Dr. James Young, Chief Coroner for Ontario, today announced the Office of the Chief Coroner has added three more deaths to its investigation surrounding the E-Coli outbreak in Walkerton, Ontario. These additional deaths were reported to the Office of the Chief Coroner by the Ontario Provincial Police, and raise the total number of possible related E.coli deaths in the Walkerton area being investigated by the Office of the Chief Coroner to 14.
Added to the ongoing investigation are the deaths of an 81-year-old woman who died in Walkerton on May 5; a 27-year-old woman who died in Kitchener on May 18; and a 93-year-old woman who died in Walkerton on May 19. The investigation will determine if the deaths are related to the E.coli outbreak in Walkerton.
June 6, 2000
GUELPH, Ont. - More E.coli contamination has been turning up in Ontario groundwater since liquid manure became popular with the province's farmers, a University of Guelph scientist said Tuesday. But itıs still unproven whether liquid manure is definitely the culprit in E.coli outbreaks like the one that has devastated Walkerton, Ont. "It is circumstantial evidence," Michael Goss said at a news conference held by the Ontario Farm Environmental Coalition.
At least seven people have died since Walkerton's water supply became contaminated with E.coli in mid-May and 2,000 people have fallen ill. Although a cause hasn't been determined, some have suggested that manure runoff from neighboring farms may have entered town wells. Goss presented the results of a year-old study into the effects of using liquid manure at the conference. Liquid manure is generally considered more efficient than using solid manure, but may allow bacteria to get into groundwater more easily. "When applied when the soil is moist, it gives an opportunity for it to move more rapidly through the environment," said Goss.
In the 1950s, a study into "blue baby syndrome" produced a "snapshot" of groundwater contamination, he said. That syndrome was caused by nitrates in water which affected the ability of infants' blood to carry oxygen. At the time, about 15 per cent of groundwater in Ontario was estimated to contain E.coli. By the early 1990's, a third of Ontario's wells were found to contain E.coli.
Jack Wilkinson, president of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture, farmers are doing the best they can to protect groundwater. City people have chlorination protection against bacteria but rural people, who have wells, don't, he said. Farmers themselves have much to gain from improving water quality, he said.
The coalition is made up of about 30 Ontario farm organizations, including the Ontario Federation of Agriculture, the Christian Farmers Federation of Canada, Dairy Farmers of Ontario and the Ontario Cattlemen's Association. Under coalition initiatives, about 18,000 farmers enacted an environmental farm plan, including a self-administered report card on environmental shortcomings and a peer review. Farmers were also encouraged to develop management plans to reduce the amount of manure they use.
June 7, 2000
OWEN SOUND, Ont. - Dr. Murray McQuigge, health officer for the Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound area, was cited as estimating that a deadly E.coli epidemic in rural Ontario has made up to 2,000 people sick. Since mid-May, the outbreak has killed at least seven people and many continue to show up at the townıs hospital emergency room suffering from bloody diarrhea and other symptoms of E.coli infection, he added.
So far, 962 residents have made hospital visits, said Dr. McQuigge, in Owen Sound to present an information session and a summary of events to the Grey County Council.
Dr. McQuigge said experts have tracked down "seven possible sources of contamination," including several large livestock farms that are uphill from two of the townıs wells. As well, the story says that experts have tested calves in several Walkerton area herds and found the same strain of E.coli bacteria that contaminated the water system.
Consultants hired by the town have found that the townıs three wells may have had leaks that allowed raw water to enter the system, while a chlorinator in one of Walkerton's three wells was also not working properly. Dr. McQuigge urged the region's 28 mayors and reeves to "call your emergency plan into action" if they ever suspect contamination.
June 2, 2000
BROCKTON, Ont. - After an extensive investigation of the possible causes of the contamination of the Walkerton water supply, the Municipality of Brockton's Technical Team has narrowed down the possible causes of the E.coli contamination to the wells and aquifers that supply the municipal water system. The preliminary findings were contained in a report submitted to the Ontario Ministry of the Environment on May 31, 2000.
"While we have narrowed the field of possible causes, it is important to note that investigations are still proceeding and that no information in the report should be considered final or conclusive at this time," stated John Martin Of Miller Thomson and a member of the Municipality's Technical Team. On May 23 & 24, 2000, Brockton's Technical Team, in consultation with the Ministry of the Environment, established a list of possible causes of the contamination. The list included:
- Locations of new watermain construction
- Locations of watermain breakage or repair
- Treated water reservoirs
- Cross connections to private systems
- Flooding on May 12, 2000
- The well-heads (pumphouses) of municipal wells No. 5, No. 6 and No. 7
- The aquifers that supply wells No. 5, No. 6, No. 7
From May 24 to May 31, 2000 the Technical Team reviewed records, conducted interviews, took soil and water samples and made site observations related to each possible location. These activities and information were gathered through the assistance of:
- The Ministry of the Environment
- The Ontario Clean Water Agency
- The Walkerton Public Utilities Commission
- The Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound Health Unit
- GAP EnviroMicrobial Services Inc.
- Collingwood Utility Services Corporation
- Golder Associates Ltd.
The Technical Team's report states that:
"The preliminary investigations have established a number of potential pathways for contaminants to have entered the water supply at or near the well sites...The preliminary geotechnical findings, plus the results of existing bacteriological testing at the well sites showing both total conform and E.coli to be present, lead us to conclude that all three (well) locations require additional investigation."
Based on these preliminary conclusions, the Technical Team has proposed an extensive investigation of both the wellheads and the aquifers that supply wells No. 5, No. 6, and No. 7. A detailed work plan, prepared by Golder Associates Ltd. in consultation with the Ministry of the Environment and was submitted with the report on May 31, 2000.
In addition to the investigation of possible causes, the Technical Team is also undertaking a number of initiatives to restore a safe and clean water supply. Planning is now underway to:
Access and flush all system dead ends (a length of pipe that is connected to the system at only one end) - at approximately 20 different locations through out the distribution system
Access and disinfect private side plumbing including connected fixtures for all buildings and residences connected to the system.
"As part of our overall Action Plan, we are now investigating the possibility of conducting a disinfection program at each of the approximately 2500 customer locations throughout the distribution system. Obviously this will be a major undertaking on behalf of the Municipality and it is an important step to assuring that the system is clean and safe," said John Mart.
June 1, 2000
Elbert van Donkersgoed of the Christian Farmers Federation of Ontario was cited as saying that new agricultural legislation expected this month could prevent a recurrence of the deadly Walkerton water disaster, adding, "If the government does not create some hoops to go through to control intensified farming, then we will have too much livestock for the land and too much manure to be spread'' and that the factory farming legislation from Agriculture Minister Ernie Hardeman must include strict controls on manure production.
The federation is calling on the province to adopt a nutrient management planning act that would allow municipalities to set limits on manure production, he said. That would allow local bylaws that would limit the amount of manure produced, and thereby limit the size of factory farms, also known as intensified farming, where large numbers of animals are raised on a relatively small amount of land, Donkersgoed said. Legislation aimed at intensified farming will be introduced before the Legislature shuts down for the summer about June 22, agriculture ministry spokesperson John Cruickshank confirmed yesterday. Cruickshank would not reveal what kind of controls might be placed on intensified farming procedures, the subject of a study by Doug Galt, Hardeman's parliamentary assistant and Toby Barrett, the environment minister's parliamentary assistant.
It's thought that the bacteria may have been flushed into an unsealed well on the outskirts of the southwestern Ontario town following a fierce storm May 12, which dropped nearly 99 millimeters of rain in the area near Owen Sound. The low-lying well, one of three that supply local residents, is located about two kilometers from the town, adjacent to a marsh and surrounded by empty fields. Not a single farm can be seen on Bruce County's rolling hills beyond the well but there are five cattle feedlots within a five-kilometer radius of the town. Four are about average size with 200 cattle, while one could be considered in the intensified farming category with 2,500. A consultant hired by the town and environment ministry officials will reveal results tomorrow of a preliminary investigation into the source of the water contamination. Terry Flynn, a public relations consultant hired by the town, said the investigation is looking at seven potential sources for the contamination but it may be difficult to determine the exact source of the bacteria. Murray Clark, head of the Bruce County Federation of Agriculture, said area farmers are eager to learn the results of the investigation. "I think it will be a unique set of circumstances that will be a physical failure of the water system combined with the storm and a number of other factors,'' said Clark.
Agriculture Minister Ernie Hardeman was cited as insisting Wednesday that manure from huge cow and hog farms -- considered a possible cause of the Walkerton tainted-water tragedy -- is a "quality product" that's never polluted the province's waterways, adding, "You have to remember the effluent from livestock is a quality product to grow crops on. You get it from your livestock and you put it on your fields and you grow corn and turn it back into livestock feed." There's no evidence it's polluting the water, he added.
June 1, 2000
WALKERTON, Ont. -- Another two deaths are, according to this story, being investigated for links to this farm townıs killer E.coli outbreak, bringing the possible death toll to 11 in the worst tainted water disaster in Canadian history, police said Thursday.
Provincial police, who have set up headquarters in this sleepy town to investigate the crisis, have referred two more deaths to the provinceıs coroner, James Young. Dr. Murray McQuigge, the areaıs chief health officer, was cited as saying he was told at a meeting Wednesday it will be "another six to eight weeks before Walkerton will be able to tell us that they consider the water safe to drink." McQuigge was escorted to Wednesdayıs meeting by a plainclothes police officer. Asked about the police presence, he would only say that he has been receiving phone calls from some "very unusual people" with "some very different opinions," though he didnıt consider the calls threatening.
A baby who has been fighting the deadly E.coli disease since being given an experimental drug seems to have won his battle. Lucas Johnsonıs fourth and final blood test has shown no kidney damage from the disease that plagued him and hundreds of others since the outbreak less than two weeks ago. His mother, Lorrie Johnson, tried to keep her optimism in check Wednesday, saying her 11-month-old baby must stay on the medication until Friday.
Residents in another Ontario town woke up this morning to a boil order warning from their health officials. Durham, 30 kilometers east of Walkerton where a deadly strain of E.coli in the townıs water system in has claimed at least seven lives, was found to have trace amounts of coliform in their water system. Jim Patton, of the Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound health unit, was cited as saying that while tests have turned up trace amounts of "total coliform" in the townıs water system, there is no indication of any presence of the E.coli bacteria. The Ministry of Environment and municipal officials are investigating the source of the problem, he said. Durham draws its water from two deep-drilled wells. Patton said both are considered untreated water supplies because no chlorine is added to the system. Chlorine kills E.coli and coliform. Itıs the first time Durhamıs wells have indicated a bacterial problem, said Patton.
May 31, 2000
Calgary -- A study done by Health Canada five years ago, according to this story, clearly identified the Walkerton, Ont., area and
neighboring counties in Southwestern Ontario as a hot spot for infection caused by
E.coli. Dr. Pascal Michel, a veterinarian and epidemiologist with Health Canada in Montreal, mapped 3,000 reported cases of
E.coli infection in the province from 1990 to 1995 and found that most cases occurred in rural areas in months of May, June and July. Bruce County, in which Walkerton is located, and
neighboring Grey, Huron, Perth, Oxford and Middlesex counties recorded the highest incidence of infection from the deadly
E.coli variety known as O157:H7, with more than four cases per 10,000 people, Dr. Michel said.
Agricultural counties in Central and Eastern Ontario, including Victoria, Frontenac and Renfrew, also reported very high rates of infection. (In contrast, counties with large urban
centers such as Toronto, Ottawa and Windsor had the lowest rates of infection.)
The story says that the Health Canada study was published last year in the medical journal Epidemiology and Infection, after Dr. Michel shared his findings with Ontario public-health officials in 1997. He also found a strong and persistent association between
E.coli infections and cattle density. Using a crude measure of cattle per hectare, it showed that "living in an agricultural region where cattle are could be an important risk factor."
In much of Southwestern Ontario, particularly in Bruce and Grey counties, cattle density can rise as high as 100 animals per hectare in industrial-style factory farms. The report also noted that 32 per cent of Ontario's rural wells exceeded acceptable standards for fecal contamination. Dr. Michel was quoted as saying, "The relationship between cattle density and the magnitude of
E.coli was very significant. Lots of scientists have compiled evidence on this link." Asked if he was surprised by the deadly Walkerton outbreak, Dr. Michel answered both yes and no.
"I was surprised by the scale of the event but no, I was not surprised by where it happened. We knew that we could expect more cases of infection in these counties than anywhere else in the province."
The findings confirm several scientific studies that implicate cattle manure as a chronic source of
E.coli contamination of food and water in Scotland, the United States, Argentina and Canada. "From a scientific perspective, there is need to pursue more information on the agricultural pressures on public health," Dr. Michel said.
For reasons unknown, about 100 strains of dangerous E.coli now live in healthy cattle, which shed the organisms in their manure throughout the summer months. Just a few (anywhere between 10 and 100) can start an infection that can lead to bloody diarrhea, kidney failure and death.
Dr. Glen Armstrong, a medical microbiologist at the University of Alberta and an expert on
E.coli O157:H7 was quoted as saying, "Cattle manure and drinking water don't mix and we have known that for a long time."
A 1996 outbreak in Japan that sickened 20,000 children and killed 13 was traced back to sprouts grown in water contaminated by cattle manure, Dr. Armstrong said. An earlier
E.coli outbreak in Ontario, which killed two children in 1980, had similar origins. Scientists eventually linked that deadly episode to unpasteurized apple cider served on a well-fertilized farm.
The study concluded that factors responsible for spreading E.coli O157:H7 probably included "the contamination of surface water and shallow wells by cattle manure used as a fertilizer; working with or being in close contact with cattle; and consumption of food produced and processed locally."
Although E.coli O157:H7 can exist in water troughs for months, scientists know little about how it moves among cattle, water and humans. The bacteria also bear an uncanny resemblance to strains of
E.coli that ravaged hospitals in the 1930s and 1940s and often accounted for 10 per cent of all baby deaths.
Health Canada is now conducting another study that will better highlight the risk of
E.coli infections associated with intensive livestock developments.
May 31, 2000
TORONTO - As coroners investigate whether an E.coli outbreak in the small Ontario town of Walkerton is responsible for as many as nine deaths and the province launches a public inquiry, Canadians across the country have become hypersensitive about the safety of their water supply.
The Ontario government, in response to a barrage of criticism blaming the outbreak on its privatization of water-testing procedures and funding cutbacks at the environment ministry, said on Wednesday it would appoint a judge to a commission of inquiry into the outbreak.
"We have a responsibility to the victims and their families to get to the bottom of this tragedy,'' said Ontario Premier Mike Harris. "We will not rest until we do.''
As outrage and anguish continued in Walkerton, a farming community of 5,000 about 200 kilometers (125 miles) from Toronto, low levels of E.coli 2 were detected in the main well of a trailer park in Osgoode Township near Ottawa on Wednesday, prompting local officials to warn the 180 residents not to drink or wash with the water.
Officials in Shelburne, Ontario, about 100 km (60 miles) southeast of Walkerton alerted the town's 4,000 residents that E.coli had been detected in one of the town's six wells, but did not issue a "boil water'' advisory because the municipal distribution system was not contaminated.
And the neighboring township of Amaranth is still investigating the presence of E.coli in local farm wells and trying to determine its origin.
Outside Ontario, the small rural town of Elkhorn, Manitoba, is now boiling its drinking water after two children became infected with a strain of E.coli that affected their kidneys, forcing them both on to dialysis treatment.
Dr. Joel Kettner of the Winnipeg Health Sciences Centre said on Tuesday: "I don't want to give a message to Manitobans that they shouldn't worry. Until they're sure its safe, they should be boiling water.''
Kettner said that although the E.coli outbreak in Walkerton is the worst he has seen in his 25 years of practice, the children in Elkhorn were likely made ill by contaminated beef, rather than water, the origin of about 85 cases of E.coli illness in Manitoba annually.
Ripples of concern have spread across the country with residents in British Columbia's Vancouver Island and the northern Ontario city of Thunder Bay flooding testing centers with questions about the safety of their water, according to local media reports.
Carlton Gyles, a professor at the University of Guelph's department of pathobiology, said on Wednesday "the heightened awareness of the problem is creating a certain degree of unease among people. But once people look into it, the risks aren't really that high.''
E.coli bacteria are very common, said Gyles. Humans and animals have billions of them in their intestinal tracts and, in most cases, they are a benign part of the normal digestive process.
"Water-borne outbreaks are extremely rare, the most common form is food-borne. It's not a growing problem. I'm not worried,'' added Gyles.
There is speculation in the Walkerton case that heavy rains contaminated the town's wells with farm manure, and a faulty chlorinization system failed to kill the 0157 variety of E.coli (Escherichia coli), which can cause dangerous, sometimes fatal, infection.
Ontario's chief coroner told a news conference on Wednesday that the E.coli bacteria that tainted Walkerton's drinking water might be linked to as many as nine deaths.
Two of the cases under investigation occurred before the outbreak was generally known, Ontario Chief Coroner James Young said. Seven deaths, including two on Tuesday, have been linked to the outbreak by hospital officials.
"As of this morning, we are investigating nine deaths. I want to emphasize that some of these deaths may not have been caused by the E.coli bacteria,'' said Young.
Eight of the victims in the probe ranged from 56 to 92 years of age, while one is known to be a two-year-old girl.
May 31, 2000
Columnist Andrew Coyne wrote in the National Post, that there is a natural tendency, in the wake of a tragedy like Walkerton's, to cast about for someone to blame. At the same time, there is a wholly unnatural tendency, on the part of some critics of the Harris Conservatives, to blame them for everything -- or at least, to think them capable of People died in Walkerton. Hundreds of others are ill. No matter. They are but bit players in the larger drama that is being played out in Ontario, or at least in the heads of the Harris-haters.
If it is necessary to exploit the suffering of others, to use the dead as pawns, so be it. The cause is all. Instant theories of provincial culpability have sprouted and spread, unnourished by evidence or even plausibility. They began almost as soon as the news broke that Walkerton's water was making people sick.
So: It was all because the Tories had contracted out the testing of water quality to private firms, who would inevitably fall short of the standards maintained at government laboratories. At the very least, they add another link in the chain of responsibility.
Except there was no problem with the testing. The company in question, A & L Laboratories Canada East, was given samples to test by the Walkerton Public Utility Commission on May 16, after a heavy rain raised concerns that the town's wells might have been contaminated. The results, showing traces of Escherichia coli O157:H7, a virulent strain of the bacteria, were returned by fax no later than May 18. In fact, the company says it phoned the Walkerton PUC to warn them on the morning of May 17, faxing the full results at noon. Not only that, it says it told town officials on May 5 or 6 of finding fecal coliform bacteria -- not necessarily of the deadly kind, but a danger sign -- in routine tests. And the company that previously held the Walkerton contract, GAP EnviroMicrobial Services, says it found coliform contamination in five different tests from February to May. In addition to notifying the Walkerton PUC, it faxed the results to the Owen Sound office of the Ontario Environment Ministry.
Indeed, the only people who seem to have done their jobs in this whole affair were the private labs. We now know that the Walkerton PUC sat on the data showing the water supply had been contaminated for five or six days; and that during that critical interval, in response to direct queries from the regional health officer, it denied there was a problem, not once but three times.
Three more Walkerton, Ont., E.coli victims yesterday opted to try an experimental antidote developed in Edmonton after the first child to take the drug showed signs of improvement. Eleven-month-old Lucas Johnson's blood tests yesterday showed no permanent damage to his kidneys, his mother Lorrie Johnson said. "Excellent! Great news!" declared University of Alberta professor Dr. Glen Armstrong, who developed the experimental drug, Synsorb Pk, in 1989. "I'm glad to hear it. "You're always worried because this bug kills, so it's good to hear he seems to be pulling through." Lucas - one of five kids in the community of 5,000 on Synsorb Pk - began taking it Friday. Three more patients decided yesterday to take the unlicensed medication.
The Edmonton Journal reported that the Ontario water contamination disaster shows why the Alberta government should not be delaying a new law on intensive livestock farms, say legal and environmental groups. Livestock manure has been suspected as a possible cause of the contamination that killed five people in Walkerton, Ont. In light of that tragedy it's strange that Alberta Agriculture Minister Ty Lund recently decided to postpone a law that would regulate manure handling and other aspects of intensive livestock operations, said environmental lawyer Andrew Hudson.
"The bottom line is that you keep cow manure out of the river and we won't drink it,'' said Hudson, of the Environmental Law
Centre.
Livestock farms and their manure were blamed in a 1998 federal-provincial study for polluting many streams and rivers with bacteria and harmful chemical substances. The type of E-coli bacteria that caused the Walkerton tragedy has sometimes been found on cattle farms, of which there are 35,000 in Alberta. Hudson represented one of many groups on a provincial advisory committee that last week recommended a new "Act for Intensive Livestock Operations.'' Under it, the province would set requirements for and approve new and expanding farms that raise cattle, hogs or chickens in concentrated areas -- usually on a large scale that critics call "factory farms.''
Currently, approvals are provided by municipalities and there are no provincewide environmental requirements. The new law would oversee municipal approvals with technical environmental reviews and approvals by Alberta Agriculture. The proposed act would also set requirements for handling manure to ensure it doesn't pollute streams or groundwater. But Lund announced late in the week that he needed to broaden consultations
"to build a stronger consensus'' before he would introduce such legislation.
"That's interesting in light of Walkerton,'' Hudson commented. Alberta Agriculture's interim measures for manure guidelines and environmental self-assessments by farmers won't be good enough, he added.
Elliot Welch of Guelph writes in a letter to the Star that the serious Escherichia coli 0157:H7 outbreak in the drinking water supply of Walkerton, Ont.
"As a microbiology research technician, I am saddened to see misinformation in The Star about this bacterium. For example, some articles have called it E-coli or
E coli and have described it as a virus. Every living organism has a two-part name -- the genus and the species. With this binomial nomenclature, the species name is capitalized and the genus name is not. The correct spelling for an acceptable short form, is _E.coli_. _E.coli_ bacteria are normally found in the gastrointestinal tract of healthy humans. Only certain strains of _E.coli_ cause pathogenesis in humans, as they produce potentially deadly toxins. It is these toxins that cause disease. In other words, it is correctly termed a bacterial intoxication, not a bacterial infection. One of the most serious _E.coli_ strains in 0157:H7. These characters refer to certain somatic and flagellar antigens found on the surface of the bacteria and they must be included as past of the name when describing the organism.
The Star's may 25, article Children in intensive care, describes _E.coli_ 0157:H7 as a virus -- not just once, but six times. We are dealing with a bacterium here, not a virus. Viruses are smaller than their bacterial counterparts; their relatively simple structure consists of a piece of genetic information (RNA or DNA), either single or double-stranded) covered in a protein coat. Viruses are not cells and many scientists do not even consider them to be "living". This is because viruses have an absolute requirement for host cells in order to replicate (for example, the human immuno-deficiency virus, HIV, cannot reproduce itself without a human host). Viruses cannot reproduce on their own; bacteria and other cellular organisms can replicate themselves. The public craves -- the public needs -- sound, accurate scientific information."
The Kingston Whig-Standard reports that private well-owners are more at risk of having their drinking water contaminated than those who get their water from city treatment plants, a Kingston microbiologist warns. There's a danger that the type of
E.coli outbreak from contaminated water in Walkerton could happen to rural residents around Kingston who rely on their wells for potable water, microbiologist Arthur Ley said. There is no system in place to monitor individual wells for contamination, unlike municipal water treatment plants that are required by legislation to conduct regular tests, said Ley, who has worked for the Ministry of Environment but is now a private water quality consultant.
"People are very unaware of the potential problems,'' he said.
Maintenance of private wells is the responsibility of the owners, said Dr. Ian Gemmill, local medical officer of health. "If people are concerned about their private well system, they can have their water tested,'' he said. "We don't recommend people do it that frequently because if the well is properly installed, there's no need, except maybe on an annual basis.'' Well drillers have to follow guidelines set by the Ministry of Environment, said Chris Davy, a well-drilling contractor.
The guidelines call for about 22 feet of steel casing and grouting. Davy said it is a good idea for residents to do bacteria tests on their wells, although he has no recommendation on how frequently it should be done. "If there's any chance that you think something has changed in your water - maybe there's a sudden change of color, taste or anything that seems out of the ordinary - definitely, you should have a bacteria test.'' Ley insists the lack of public awareness is the fundamental issue. "I really believe education is key here, but no one is doing this job,'' he said. The local health unit can provide well-owners with information on water safety, but it has no education program to reach the broader public, Gemmill said.
May 29, 2000
TORONTO -- There have been several media reports which have asserted that the Ministry of Environment's Owen Sound office made admissions of knowledge "of a problem" with the Walkerton water supply up to "5 months ago." This is to provide clarification of the Ministry's actions:
- The Ministry's Owen Sound Office confirms that they received faxes from GAP Enviromicrobial Laboratories once in January and again in April of 2000. The faxed test results indicated the probable presence of coliform bacteria in the Walkerton water system. No e-coli was reported.
- The Ministry Office followed up by telephone on April 10, 2000 with the Walkerton Public Utilities Commission, and were advised that following the irregular results, corrective measures were being taken as prescribed in the "Ontario Drinking Water Objectives, 1994". These measures included increased chlorination of the water supply system, and additional sampling for bacteria.
- On May 3rd, 2000 the Walkerton Public Utilities Commission submitted to the Ministry Office a copy of a GAP Laboratory report which indicated that the follow-up testing showed an absence of any coliform bacteria or e-coli.
- No further lab reports were received.
Please note that the circumstances relating to the events described above are the subject of an investigation by the Ministry of Environment's Investigations and Enforcement Branch, as well as by the Ontario Provincial Police.
May 29, 2000
The outbreak of E.coli contamination in the farming community of Walkerton is set to claim a sixth life, medical officials say. An elderly patient at the South Bruce Grey Health Centre who had been critically ill after she was infected with E.coli was moved into palliative care yesterday, said Dianne Waram, acting chief executive of the Walkerton hospital. Five people have died so far - four adults and a 2 1/2-year-old girl. More than a thousand Walkerton residents - and others who passed through the town before the warning was sounded - fell ill with symptoms of E.coli contamination, including nausea, stomach cramps and bloody diarrhea. The town's hospital reported 30 new cases yesterday, half the number reported Friday.
Walkerton took one little step toward normalcy yesterday when two huge water towers were filled with heavily-chlorinated water, which kills E.coli. There are signs the epidemic is not spreading as widely as originally feared. Health officials said there are no further reports of cases outside Walkerton. "Somebody messed up,''
Reverend Suzanne Hollands told congregants at St. Thomas Anglican Church as she brandished a container of bottled water.
"But we all make mistakes, even mistakes that cause death. There is so much pain, but we know we all have to stick together.''
Hollands, who recited the names of the five who have died from E.coli contamination, asked congregants to pray for Stan
Koebel, manager of the Walkerton Public Utilities Commission, who is at the
center of the contaminated-water controversy. It has been reported that Koebel denied there were problems with Walkerton's water, even after the first symptoms began cropping up May 17.
The official cause of death was listed as kidney failure, but there's no doubt in Gordon Dawe's mind as to why his father died just two days after complaining of bloody diarrhea.
"He was a strong man and to go that rapidly, something must have attacked his system,'' Gordon said in an interview.
"I'm pretty well convinced there was some contamination.'' Two weekends ago, Mel Dawe, 69, was alone in the flooded basement of his home in Clifford, a small town located about 20 minutes south of Walkerton, dealing with the messy aftermath of heavy rains. Within six days, he was dead. Because he died before the outbreak of the
E.coli bacteria in Walkerton began dominating headlines, the elder Dawe's death has not been officially linked to the epidemic. The doctor who admitted the elder Dawe to Walkerton hospital, however, can't rule it out.
Most of the victims of Walkerton's E.coli outbreak - even those now seriously ill in hospital - can expect to recover and lead normal lives, a leading researcher in childhood kidney diseases says. Dr. Peter McLaine, director of the Canadian Pediatric Kidney Disease Research Centre in Ottawa, said yesterday those who successfully fight off the ravages of
E.coli infection - especially children and the elderly, who are most at risk - usually will go on to make a full recovery. But a small minority may be at risk if they develop problems with their central nervous system (CNS) or end up with kidneys so badly damaged they must receive dialysis for the rest of their lives, he noted
While a growing number of lawyers is lining up to represent residents of Walkerton, Ont., infected with a deadly strain of
E.coli, some inhabitants of the small southwestern Ontario town are saying now is not the time for legal action. Resident Bruce Davidson says it doesn't make sense for townsfolk to take their own community to court in search of monetary compensation. "At this time, I personally don't feel I want to entertain (a lawsuit)," said Davidson. "Are we going to sue our own town?" At least six legal firms have filed or are preparing to file a lawsuit on behalf of people infected with the bacteria after the town's water system became contaminated.
Ontario's environment ministry is scrambling to find out whether its officials ignored a potential problem with Walkerton's water system for two months. In a statement yesterday, Hal Vincent, a spokesperson for Environment Minister Dan Newman, confirmed the ministry was told of a problem back in January. According to Vincent's statement, the ministry apparently took no action until April 10, shortly after it admitted receiving a second warning of the probable presence of coliform bacteria - an indication that potentially contaminated surface water was seeping into the town's wells. Another ministry spokesperson, John Steele, yesterday agreed that determining just what went wrong with the notification process is part of the review being conducted by the ministry, one of at least three into the epidemic.
May 26, 2000
WALKERTON, Ont. -- One victim was buried, Ontario's premier was on the ropes and residents, according to these stories, remained furious Friday as this farm town continued to cope with the worst E.coli outbreak in Canada's history. Veronica Davidson was quoted as yelling at Premier Mike Harris as he arrived to discuss the crisis with town officials, asking, ''Are you going to put changes into effect so this type of tragedy never has to happen again?''.
Five people have died and as many as 1,000 more have fallen ill since the town's water supply became contaminated with deadly E.coli bacteria after a violent May 12 storm. Ontario Provincial Police were in town Friday investigating what went wrong in a trail that could end in criminal charges. Murray McQuigge, the area's medical officer of health, was cited as saying that there's no end in sight - many are still sick and he said he expected the death toll to climb, adding, ''The day's not over yet, this epidemic's not over yet,''
Other cases of E.coli infection were being reported Friday in cities throughout southwestern Ontario, including Windsor, London and Kitchener. Officials believe those cases stemmed from the Walkerton outbreak. Dave Thomson, mayor of the community, was cited as saying he'd spoken to Stan Koebel, the man at the centre of the storm who stands accused of knowing about the contamination more than a week ago but failing to tell anyone, adding, ''Mr. Koebel feels extremely bad, is very sorry that he hadn't taken more prompt action. They did feel at that time that by flushing the system and by adding more chlorine, it would have cleared the system up.''
Lenore Al, 66, a librarian who'd just retired with her husband, was the first to be buried today after a somber ceremony at the town's Sacred Heart Church. Another child was airlifted Friday morning from Walkerton to London, Ont. Four children at the same hospital are in critical condition on dialysis and seven others are on the hospital's pediatric ward. Dr. Douglas Matsell, the pediatric kidney expert at the London Health Sciences Centre, said he expects two children to be released from hospital within the next few days. He also noted that the condition of the more recent admissions have not been as severe. ''We consider that an optimistic sign,'' he said at a news conference.
Town residents were planning a rally on Saturday and Sunday to protest Ontario government cutbacks they say are responsible for the E.coli crisis. On Thursday, Thomson put the utility under the control of the Ontario Clean Water Agency, which will examine the water wells and recommend how to prevent any future problems. In addition, Thomson said the chlorinating unit on one of the two main wells pumping water had been working only sporadically. He said a new unit that officials had ordered weeks earlier arrived last week and was installed over the weekend.
In nearby Waterloo, Ontario, 12 people who recently visited Walkerton have complained of
E.coli infection symptoms and one case has been confirmed as E.coli, said Bob Hart, manager of infection control for the Waterloo Community Health Department. Hart said none of the cases was serious.
Police began their criminal probe into why town officials didn't alert the public about the deadly
E.coli outbreak. Day One of the investigation saw provincial police officers descend upon the town to question workers at the Public Utilities Commission about their alleged mishandling of the biggest
E.coli outbreak in Canadian history.
The local Owen Sound Sun Times reported that medical officials at a seniors home in Walkerton began drinking purified water two days before the regional medical officer of health issued a water warning and before the community's hospital began similar precautions. The result: No deaths after eight days of the worst
E.coli epidemic in Canadian history in one of the community's most fragile populations and relatively limited levels of illness among BruceLea Haven's 138 residents.
Although as many as 30 people contracted diarrhea in the home, only nine of those showed bloody diarrhea requiring continued monitoring to track possible toxic effects of E.coli infection. One patient has experienced kidney distress, a sign of the most extreme form of E.coli illness and he was one of only four residents being monitored Thursday. BruceLea manager Don Moore credits his medical staff for their early recognition of the problem long before other community officials. "We have not lost anybody because of it. We haven't discharged anybody to hospital because of it,'' Moore said Thursday.
"On Friday there were so many people coming in the home and talking about everybody in town who was sick,'' Stroeder said.
"And we knew there were several children out of Mother Teresa (elementary school) and by 4 p.m. on Friday we had two bloody diarrheas.''
The London Free Press reported that Canada's worst E.coli epidemic is suspected
to have begun in a shallow well like those used by many communities in Southwestern Ontario, including Exeter, where officials have doubled testing. "Starting this week we're testing twice a week because of the Walkerton scare," said Chandler Livingstone, vice-chairperson of Exeter Hydro Electric. "We have a shallow well system, similar to (that used by) Walkerton," he said yesterday.
The risks to drinking water -- particularly from shallow wells
-- have grown in recent years, said Livingstone, president of the Ontario
Municipal Water Association. In rural areas, growing farms are producing and disposing of more and more animal waste, a source of
E.coli and other bacteria. "Pig barns used to have 100 hogs. Now they have 1,500 to 2,000 pigs. That manure has to go somewhere," he said. Last spring, Exeter shut down one of its six wells for several months when monitors revealed dangerous levels of nitrates. The shutdown was immediate, Livingstone said.
In a related story, the Free Press reported that floodwaters from a nearby creek rose threateningly close to a well that's suspected of bringing deadly
E.coli to hundreds of people. Investigators from the Environment Ministry and the Ontario Clean Water Agency swarmed the well site yesterday, taking photographs of the well's overflow pipe and comparing the level of the pipe to the suspected high water mark of flooding in May. It's suspected the overflow pipe backed up when the area received heavy rains May 12, and creek water entered the well, contaminating Walkerton's drinking supply.
A retired Hydro worker who lives beside Well 7 north of Walkerton said he inspected the creek the day after big storms in early May. The creek was flooded, but the resident didn't think it could have reached the outfall. Soon after arriving at the well site with a reporter, the resident was called into a sedan for a private interview with provincial investigators. They would not reveal names or what ministry they worked for. Well 7 is one of three that services the town. Walkerton's engineering consultants identified Well 7 as having the potential for surface water to leak in because of the overflow system built into it, said Jim Kieffler, chairperson of the Brockton Public Utilities Commission. In addition, Well 7's chlorination unit was "malfunctioning at times" and probably wasn't putting in chlorine consistently, Kieffler said.
The Chatham Daily News reported that the outbreak of E.coli contamination in Walkerton has fuelled calls for stringent regulations on manure spreading and storage from critics concerned with
intensified livestock operations in Chatham-Kent and across the province.
"It's just a matter of time until it happens here. The land base cannot support the amount of manure being spread,'' said John McCredie, president of the Rural Rights Alliance of Ontario and member of the Agriculture Livestock Expansion Response Team (ALERT).
While residents on municipal water enjoy double-treated chlorinated H20, McCredie notes that many rural residents rely on wells, some shallow, and that their water quality can be determined by the luck of the geographical draw. Spikes of gravel in the clay terrain of south Chatham-Kent can give runoff from hard rains easy access to the water table, contaminating shallower wells. Well-testing is conducted by the Chatham-Kent Health Unit upon request, and if bacteria is found, chlorination is recommended to remedy the problem.
"If we've had any cases, it's been a curable situation. It's not common,'' said Ron Carnahan of the health unit. But environmentalists note that it can take 20 years or more of accumulated runoff to contaminate the water table, and intensification of high-volume livestock operations has been a recent agricultural development. Instead of looking solely at equipment failures and human error in the Walkerton fiasco, McCredie thinks lawmakers should look at the underlying cause. "The problem is the source of E.coli. If the government doesn't get some control of manure spreading with (trends toward) bigger barns and more (livestock) concentration...It's a recipe for disaster.''
Beef and pork production are high in Bruce County, where a deadly strain of E.coli found in cattle manure and unpasteurized milk leached into the town's wells, killing five people and causing illness in an estimated 700. Heavy rains and floods are believed to have caused runoff into the watercourse, which may then have contaminated the aquifer. The Ontario Federation of Agriculture doesn't think people should be too quick to point fingers at farmers, and is waiting to see what a thorough investigation turns up as the cause of contamination.
"It's a serious situation in Walkerton...If it's a learning experience, that's great but I don't think the immediate pointing of fingers is a wise thing,'' said Ron Cox, a director of the OFA. Even when farmers follow nutrient management plans outlined by OMAFRA, they can't control Mother Nature or wily floods that churn up sediment. Cuts to OMAFRA have meant that farmers have less third-party help with the implementation of environmental farm practices, though guidelines are in place that include teaching farmers to protect their own water.
"Most of us farmers on are wells. We'd be the first to find out (about contamination). We drink the water,'' said Bill Wymenga, president of the Kent County Pork Producers Association. He describes the call for regulations as a complex issue with no quick easy solutions. "Flexibility is very important for us farmers,'' he said. McCredie's group unsuccessfully lobbied for a local bylaw to control when and how livestock farmers could apply manure to protect the watercourse from runoff in the former Howard Township in 1997. The area is home to a burgeoning pig farming operations, with a pig barn on each stream or ditch that empties into Rondeau Bay.
While the 0157-H7 strain of E.coli isn't normally found in pig manure, according to Dr. Tom Baker of OMAFRA, other forms of toxin-producing bacteria are. Pigs produce 10 times as much waste as humans -- two tons a year each -- and pig manure often carries parasites and bacteria such as coliform, E.coli, salmonella, giardia, streptococcus and clamidia. Livestock producers dispose of liquid manure by using it to fertilize their land to nurture crop growth, but if it's left on top of the soil it can get dumped into waterways.
"We have 4.5 millions pigs in Ontario that produce nine million tons of waste. There are no controls except meaningless recommendations by OMAFRA,'' McCredie said. One pork producer that McCredie watches closely has spread manure an average of every two months, including winter. Water samples taken from area ditches at his Eatonville home have showed reading of 100,000 E.coli parts per million in October. In May of 1999, Great Lakes Pig Company was fined $5,000 and made a $5,000 donation to the Lower Thames Valley Conservation Authority after conviction for a spill that caused runoff. But the environment ministry only regulates what it can prove has spread off-site, and it's difficult to track origins. It's also impossible to track what percolates downward into the water table.
"Self-regulation hasn't worked in the past and it's not going to work in the future. We're going to end up with more Walkertons because there's no one to address the issue,'' McCredie said. Calls to the environment ministry and OMAFRA were not returned by press time.
And stories from about 100 Canadian newspapers, all saying that what happened in Walkerton could not happen in their town.
May 26, 2000
Nikiforuk, the author of The Fourth Horseman: A Short History of Plagues And Emerging Viruses, writes that epidemics are a bit like Shakespearean plays; they tend to expose great human follies and end tragically. And that pretty well describes what is happening in the town of Walkerton, where one of the world's most lethal and highly politicized pathogens has paid an entirely preventable and predictable visit.
Nikiforuk says this revelation won't bring much comfort to grieving parents but the people of Walkerton should know that just about everything that could go wrong did go wrong in their community. Some people didn't do their job (and it matters not if you call it ignorance, negligence or murder). In the end, a child has died and more have been crippled for life. When E.coli-O157 erupts in such a miserable fashion, it generally unsettles political regimes and forces a revaluation of what matters in life: clean water and clean government. Just ask Japanese or Scottish health officials because they learned this lesson the hard way. An outbreak caused by contaminated water in Osaka in 1996 killed 13 children, sickened thousands and created a national political scandal. When a similar strain infiltrated a shop belonging to
"the butcher of the year'' in Lanarkshire, Scotland, 250 old folks got sick and 20 died. That event made international headlines and rewrote public-health laws.
Nikiforuk predicts that Walkerton will do the same in Canada because it is a disaster that could happen anywhere in cattle country. One of the key ironies here is that the central character in this tragedy, a 40-year-old strain of a very common bacterium, is well-known to Canadian scientists. In fact, Canadian microbiologists and kidney specialists such as Mohamed Karmali, Glen Armstrong and Elaine Orrbine helped write the book on
E.coli-O157. What that book now says is pretty straightforward. The bacteria probably evolved in South America's cattle country four decades ago when it acquired a gene from Shigella, a bloody diarrhea-maker. The new water-borne strain then swept the globe killing children and raising Cain in key cattle-growing regions: Scotland, Canada and the United States. About a decade ago, Canadian scientists linked the bacteria to 90 per cent of all kidney disease or Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome (HUS) in children. Once the germ hits the gut, it produces a toxin that punches through the stomach and seeks out the kidney like a heat-destroying missile. In about 10 per cent of all infections in children and the elderly, the results are, well, horrifying: anemia, blindness, strokes, brain damage and a life on dialysis machines. Some doctors say some infected children are lucky if they die. And that's the grim drama now unfolding in Children's Hospital of Western Ontario.
Nikiforuk says the bacteria appeared first in Canada among Alberta's crowded feed lots where it is now thoroughly entrenched. When dung shed by infected cattle contaminated well water between the years of 1989 and 1991, 12 children died and scores of others were crippled. But it took public-health sleuths several years to identify O157 as the culprit and cattle as the incubator. Southern Alberta continues to have one of the highest rates of infection for O157 and
"boil water'' orders are pretty routine events in wet years. Since 1994, federal scientists have known that O157 is also alive and well in Ontario's cattle country. Different studies have found a high incidence of intestinal infections (about 40 cases per 100,000 people) in rural counties with the heaviest concentrations of cattle (more than eight animals per 40 hectares). Most of these counties lie in southwestern Ontario. Studies have also found that nearly a tenth of well water sampled on Ontario farms is contaminated by bacterial strains similar to O157. This explains why Dr. Murray McQuigge, the medical officer of health for the Grey-Bruce region, got very anxious about Walkerton's water supply after a pretty vicious storm hit the region on May 12. He knew that water and industrial volumes of cattle dung don't mix well. After tell-tale cases of bloody diarrhea showed up, McQuigge asked the Public Utilities Commission if its water system was safe and secure. The PUC said they were no problems, even though the machine that puts chlorine in the town's water supply had been broken for at least a week and even though its own tests had revealed contamination.
Those replies gave O157 all the time it needed (five human days are the equivalent of several bacterial centuries) to work through the population. It moved from water to food, from food to toilets, person to person, hitting locals and visitors alike. (Unlike many of its bacterial cousins which take thousands of organisms to cause harm, O157 can do the job with just 10 agents.) The PUC's answers also prevented physicians from using the only drug that works against O157 and that's Synsorb PK, a bundle of sugar and sand that absorbs the toxin. But it must be administered early in the infection to do any good. After five days of exposure and infection, it can't undo the harm already done. In the end, the people of Walkerton found themselves on a stage contaminated by cattle dung, untreated water and O157. Rudolf Virchow, a great 19th-century bacteria-watcher, put it this way:
"Epidemics resemble great warnings from which a statesman in the grand style can read that disturbance has taken place in the development of his people.'' The people of Walkerton are living a disturbance that needn't be.
May 26, 2000
WALKERTON -- The media frenzy continues in Walkerton with most major news outlets broadcasting live from the city and the big newspapers this morning devoting several pages and columns each to the outbreak.
New and notable: Scott Ritchie, a lawyer from London, Ont. with the firm of Siskind, Cromarty, Ivey and Dowler, and the Wingham, Ont. law firm of Crawford, Mill and Davies, filed a notice of action in the Ontario Superior Court in London yesterday, alleging negligence against the town for not notifying residents about a danger that was apparently known for several days. The suit, filed just hours after medical officer Murray McQuigge alleged that the
E.coli deaths could have been prevented, was filed on