California’s health officials said on Thursday that they are investigating whether wild boars may have played a role in the E. coli outbreak in September that killed three people and sickened some two hundred.
Since Sept. 15, the E. coli-contaminated spinach produced in California’s Salinas Valley has sickened 204 people in 26 U.S. states and one Canadian province, the investigators told a press conference.
They said that nine samples of the bacteria found on one ranch in the Salinas Valley match both the contaminated fresh spinach and the human isolates from the outbreak.
“Clearly, we have positive results on one property that are helping to refine our investigation,” said Kevin Reilly, deputy director of the prevention services division for the California Department of Health Services.
“We have not closed any possibilities on three other ranches, but the information is accumulating that our environmental findings are consistent on this one property.”
The E. coli samples were found in a water sample in a creek, in the gastrointestinal tract of a wild boar on the property, and from cattle fecal specimens. None of the nine positive matches came from a nearby spinach field that was the source of the contaminated produce, Reilly said.
Wild animals, especially the boars, may have brought the bacteria from the ranch to the spinach field, officials said.
“Animals, wildlife and water were in close proximity to the field,” Reilly said.
“There’s clear evidence that the pig population has access and goes onto the fields. Is that the ultimate means of contamination or is that one potential means, including water and wildlife? We’re still investigating that.”
Meanwhile, officials are continuing investigations into three other ranches in the Salinas Valley. Several E. coli samples were found there, but none matched the outbreak strain when put through more advanced genetic testing, they said.
“It is not unusual or unexpected that we would find E. coli associated with domestic cattle and/or wildlife but, to date, we have not matched it up with the outbreak strain other than on the single ranch,” Reilly said.
The ranch, which authorities did not identify, included a beef cattle operation and fields where spinach and other ready-to-eat produce were grown. The proximity of fresh produce fields to farm animals has long been a concern to agricultural and health authorities.
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