Food Poisoning: An Untrackable Illness In A Globalized World

About this time of year, 4 years ago, people in Germany began falling ill with diarrhea, nausea and fever. At first it looked like a small outbreak, though a troubling one: One out of every three victims needed to be admitted to the hospital. Then the outbreak expanded, and expanded again. By June, more than 1,800 people had fallen ill with the bacterium E. coli  O104:H4, a strain that produces a destructive toxin. More than 500 people had been hospitalized, and 20 died. The vast scale of the outbreak spurred an international hunt for the culprit food, bringing together not only professional disease detectives from Europe and the United States but crowdsourced genomics contributions from as far away as China.

By July 2011, with

DON'T MISS THE REST OF THIS STORY!
Create a free account to continue and get unlimited access to hundreds of Nat Geo articles, plus newsletters.

Create your free account to continue reading

No credit card required. Unlimited access to free content.
Or get a Premium Subscription to access the best of Nat Geo - just $19
SUBSCRIBE

Go Further

Subscriber Exclusive Content

Why are people so dang obsessed with Mars?

How viruses shape our world

The era of greyhound racing in the U.S. is coming to an end

See how people have imagined life on Mars through history

See how NASA’s new Mars rover will explore the red planet

Why are people so dang obsessed with Mars?

How viruses shape our world

The era of greyhound racing in the U.S. is coming to an end

See how people have imagined life on Mars through history

See how NASA’s new Mars rover will explore the red planet

Why are people so dang obsessed with Mars?

How viruses shape our world

The era of greyhound racing in the U.S. is coming to an end

See how people have imagined life on Mars through history

See how NASA’s new Mars rover will explore the red planet