Day 081 - 31 Jan 95 - Page 29


     
     1        necessarily always of the same severity?
     2        A.  No.
     3
     4   Q.   Sometimes you can just get a mild form of diarrhoea?
     5        A.  Yes.
     6
     7   Q.   So there would be occasions when people might suffer
     8        diarrhoea but it not be investigated so it would not
     9        necessarily be known that it was caused by E.coli?
    10        A.  I think so.
    11
    12   Q.   Even if E.coli was identified, if there were only one or
    13        two people who came to the attention of, I do not know, the
    14        health authorities, how deeply would that be investigated?
    15        A.  The local authority would investigate to see if there
    16        was any common source and that if there was a common source
    17        to take action.
    18
    19   Q.   So if there was only one person then they would not
    20        investigate or what?
    21        A.  They would normally take particulars and try to see if
    22        they can get any information, but if it is one person then,
    23        obviously, it is very difficult to get a common source.
    24
    25   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  I can see that if someone has mild diarrhoea
    26        then it may not come to any official notice whatsoever.
    27        A.  Yes, sir.
    28
    29   Q.   But if someone is, for instance, sufficiently ill or feels
    30        sufficiently unwell to go to their doctor or ends up in
    31        hospital and some kind of tests are done which reveal, let
    32        us say in this instance, E.coli 0157: 7H, would there be an
    33        automatic investigation to try to find the cause or would
    34        that just be a matter for the physician treating his or her
    35        patient?
    36        A.  Generally, it depends on -----
    37
    38   Q.   I mean, there are, sort of, I do not know the phrase,
    39        reportable or declarable diseases, are there not?
    40        A.  Yes.  There are notifiable diseases.  But in the case
    41        of E.coli 0157 I think that would be investigated, although
    42        it is not a notifiable disease.
    43
    44   MS. STEEL:   Is it fairly rare that E.coli 0157: H7 food
    45        poisoning leads to kidney failure and severe intestinal
    46        illness?
    47        A.  I am afraid that is outside my province.
    48
    49   Q.   You do not know?
    50        A.  No. 
    51 
    52   Q.   When you talked about cooking being the most important 
    53        stage for preventing food poisoning, is it right that
    54        whereas, say, with a piece of steak the bacteria will all
    55        be on the outside so they would be more likely to be killed
    56        fairly rapidly when coming into contact with heat, if you
    57        have a burger that has a large surface area and the
    58        original surface area is all now mixed in in the inside, so
    59        you would need to cook it for longer and at higher
    60        temperatures to be safer?

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