Tests Point To Beef In Camp Outbreak

Bacteria Match Supports Theory On Scouts' Illness

E. Coli found in ground beef at a Boy Scout camp in Goshen, Va., matches bacteria found in samples taken from some sick campers, lab tests have confirmed, and a state health official called beef the "prime suspect" in the outbreak that shut down the camp this week.

State and federal officials are investigating how the meat was tainted and the illness was spread at the Goshen Scout Reservation near Lexington, which has hosted Washington area Scouts for four decades.

J. Michael McMahan, an environmental health supervisor with the Virginia Department of Health, put forth a theory yesterday. He said there was a "huge" chance that the ground beef was contaminated before it reached Goshen and that it was passed out to some campers to cook over a fire, a camp tradition. However, because the meat was still partly frozen, it might not have cooked enough to kill harmful bacteria, he said.

McMahan said that interviews with sick campers seem to support the theory but that the investigation is continuing. Beef was "the prime suspect" from the beginning, he said.

Tests of well water and lake water at the camp have come back negative for E. coli, but this week, the Health Department collected more water samples to test, just to be sure, said Doug Larsen, director of the state's Central Shenandoah Health District, which includes Goshen.

"You sometimes get your blinders on, and you say, 'Aha! This must be it!' " Larsen said. "Well it may be, or it may not."

At least 27 confirmed E. coli infections have been connected to the camp, mostly among Northern Virginia residents in attendance from July 20 to 26, health officials said. Two campers who attended last week were also infected, a health official confirmed. More than 70 people have exhibited symptoms.

Yesterday, one camper remained in a hospital, having been diagnosed with hemolytic uremic syndrome, said Christopher Novak, a Health Department epidemiologist.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has begun an inquiry into whether ground beef -- which Scout officials pulled from the camp menu July 28 -- was contaminated before arriving at Goshen.

First, the USDA will determine whether more lab tests are needed to confirm that the meat was tainted, said Laura Reiser, spokeswoman for the USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service. Then the department might trace the meat back to its distributor and the plant where the cattle were slaughtered to determine whether a recall is necessary, Reiser said.

"We take the possibility of any adulterated product very seriously," Reiser said.

Meanwhile, state health officials were at the camp this week, interviewing staffers, taking swabs of spigot knobs and other commonly touched objects and examining food storage conditions.

Almost 200 camp staff members were given surveys of more than 30 pages to fill out. The surveys asked what they had eaten recently, whether they had experienced symptoms, what role they had at camp, how they handled and cooked food, whether they washed their hands and whether they had contact with animals.

Health officials want about 1,700 people who attended the camp two weeks ago to complete the survey, data from which could take weeks to collect and analyze, Novak said.

E. coli contamination in beef can occur during the slaughter and packing process, experts said. The bacteria are found on the animals' hides and in their intestines, and when meat is ground and mixed, supplies can become tainted. If the meat is not refrigerated properly afterward or not cooked to the proper temperature, the bacteria can proliferate.

"The E. coli must be present to begin with, but if the meat is temperature-abused, the number of E. coli that are present can multiply," said Don Schaffner, a food microbiologist with Rutgers University's School of Environmental and Biological Sciences.

According to state health records, inspectors cited Goshen in June for three food inspection violations, two of which were deemed "critical," including a cooling unit that kept pork at a temperature deemed too high. The problem was remedied at the time of the inspection, and the pork was discarded, the record states.

The camp's past critical violations, about 10 since 2003, are not egregious in number, and are not connected to the outbreak, Larsen said.

"If you look around, you see that there are very, very few restaurants that score 100," Larsen said. "If we had 10 or more [violations in a single visit], that would be a flag."

Alan Lambert, Scout executive of the Boy Scouts of America's National Capital Area Council, said the camp cooperates fully with health inspections every year.

"They look at all the operations in the kitchen," he said. "All of the things they found in this year's inspection were handled immediately. They issued the permits for us to operate right after they did their inspections, and these things are clearly not connected to the E. coli issue."

Lambert said that Gaithersburg-based Sodexo, the food service provider at the camp, supplied the ground beef and that Sodexo employees were present during the June health inspection. Scouts who were scheduled to attend the final week of camp at Goshen, which was canceled, will receive a refund, Lambert said.

Sodexo spokeswoman Jaya Bohlmann said that the company had 46 employees working at Goshen this summer, preparing and serving food, but that Sodexo does not produce the meat or transport it to the camp.