Day 103 - 14 Mar 95 - Page 40


     
     1        hard to trace?  The incubation period is three or five
     2        weeks or something like that, is it not?
     3        A.  No.
     4
     5   Q.   It is not?
     6        A.  The incubation period is three or five days.
     7
     8   Q.   Sorry, but it can be up to several weeks?
     9        A.  It could be up to that time to actually identify which
    10        species of listeria but, generally, you should have an
    11        isolation, positive or negative, within seven days.
    12
    13   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  We are, first of all, taking of a patient
    14        realising that something is wrong, and that could be three
    15        to five days after whatever they have eaten which has
    16        caused it.  Then it takes time to investigate, of course?
    17        A.  Yes, and really what I was referring to, if you have a
    18        suspected source of food from which you want to isolate the
    19        organism, it will take up to seven days to isolate the
    20        organism, the listeria.
    21
    22   Q.   But I understand the difficulty, for instance, with
    23        E.coli.  There are probably some foods which are stronger
    24        candidates than others if there is an E.coli infection.  It
    25        occurs to me one of the difficulties with listeria it could
    26        be just about anything you have eaten?
    27        A.  Yes, that is correct.
    28
    29   Q.   It does not have to be meat at all?
    30        A.  No, no, that is correct.
    31
    32   Q.   If it a child, it may have been grubbing around in the
    33        flower bed and got it, is that technically possible?
    34        A.  I suppose it is, although you do not tend to hear of
    35        cases in children like that but .....
    36
    37   Q.   It says:  "The Riverside Health Authority would like to
    38        emphasise that the risk of listeriosis is small"?
    39        A.  Yes.
    40
    41   MS. STEEL:  But it would be hard to trace, so it would be hard
    42        for anyone to make a claim against a particular company if
    43        they did suffer as a result of listeria?
    44        A.  It might be, yes.
    45
    46   Q.   Is that another reason why you would not bother to test for
    47        listeria?
    48        A.  No.  As I have said before, the reason we do not test
    49        is because it is a very common organism.  If you find it is
    50        positive, so what?  You know that is going to be the result 
    51        anyway. 
    52 
    53   Q.   Just a couple of bits I missed out earlier on.  How old are
    54        the oldest chicks when they are transported from the
    55        hatcheries to the broiler sheds?
    56        A.  They are only a few hours old.  They are all delivered
    57        the same day of hatch.
    58
    59   Q.   So do you only hatch on certain days of the week?
    60        A.  We hatch four days a week.

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