Event Addresses Foodborne Diseases and Continued Threats to Public Safety

Cincinnati—Health officials say recent massive national food recalls raised serious public concern about foodborne illnesses such as E.coli and Salmonella. A collaborative group of public health experts will hold a public event to help residents understand the genesis of foodborne disease and what they can do to protect their families.

The free, public presentation titled “Pot Pies, Peppers and Peanut Butter: Foodborne Disease and the Continuing Challenges to Public Safety” will take place Thursday, March 26, 2009, at 4 p.m. The event will be held in the University of Cincinnati (UC) College of Medicine's Kresge Auditorium (Medical Sciences Building),

Robert Tauxe, MD, MPH, deputy director of the division of foodborne, bacterial and mycotic diseases at the National Center for Zoonotic, Vectorborne and Enteric Diseases at the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Prevention, will discuss this important public health problem and how the government—and community—need to prepare to respond.

The presentation is part of the Malcolm Adcock Memorial Lecture Series, a public health education series jointly sponsored by the Environmental Protection Agency's National Homeland Security Research Center, Cincinnati Health Department, UC College of Medicine and Cincinnati Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center. It is named for the late Malcolm Adcock, who served as health commissioner of the city of Cincinnati for 11 years.

According to the CDC, foodborne diseases cause an estimated 5,000 deaths and 76 million illnesses each year. The agency says large, multi-state foodborne outbreaks require multi-player coordination to detect, investigate and control disease. 

A professional symposium discussing food, farms and illness featuring Malak Kotb, PhD, chair of UC’s molecular genetics, biochemistry and microbiology department, will take place the same day from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Registration for the symposium is $25 and includes lunch.

For reservations or more information, contact Marianne Kautz at (800) 207-9399 or kautzm@uc.edu.