A GP has explained how to avoid getting a potentially serious infection from food after it emerged 113 people have fallen ill. The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), together with public health agencies in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales, are investigating an increase in the number of Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC) cases.
It is not known what the source of the outbreak is - but it has seen 81 cases in England, 18 in Wales and 13 in Scotland. The UKHSA has said it currently is investigating what is causing the illnesses - only at this point saying ‘it is most likely that this outbreak is linked to a nationally distributed food item or multiple food items’. In an interview on GB News NHS GP Dr David Lloyd explains how to avoid ingesting harmful E.
coli from food. He said that at this stage it was hard to say if it was linked to fresh or packaged food. He added previous health scares gave some insight: “We’re all used nowadays to those instant salad packs, aren’t we which are all nicely cut up for us and the warning on the front, which is ‘please wash it’.
“I think that those are the sorts of things one should do. One shouldn’t just take a packet of uncooked food without making sure it’s thoroughly washed before you use it. “So certainly there have been lettuce outbreaks.
There have been ground beef outbreaks. And as I say, there’s very odd Fenugreek sprout outbreak, all of which have killed people in the past.” Dr Lloyd said a key symptom was.