At least four hospitalized in UA Fayetteville E. coli outbreak

KUAR | By Daniel Breen

Officials with the Arkansas Department of Health are working to determine the cause of an E. coli outbreak at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville.

The school says more than 100 people have been sickened, and at least four hospitalized, since the outbreak likely began about a week-and-a-half ago.

Bill Marler is an attorney and food safety expert who also teaches at the University of Arkansas School of Law. He says, while it’s still not certain, the source of the outbreak is likely some sort of leafy green vegetable.

https://www.ualrpublicradio.org/local-regional-news/2023-08-28/at-least-four-hospitalized-in-ua-fayetteville-e-coli-outbreak

Stephanie Schuller/Science Source

Colored scanning electron micrograph (SEM) of Escherichia coli bacteria (green) taken from the small intestine of a child. E. coli are rod-shaped bacteria that are part of the normal flora of the human gut.

Head of DNA firm says allowing testing of WM3 evidence could provide new clues

KUAR | By George Jared/ Talk Business & Politics

A deadly E. coli outbreak at several Jack in the Box fast food restaurants in the western United States in 1993 may provide the means to solve one of the most controversial criminal cases in Arkansas history. Dr. Bruce Bradley, a scientist, was so bothered by the outbreak that killed four children and sickened hundreds of others that he created a system called the M-Vac to analyze food to detect pathogens.

There was only one problem – it worked too well, his son and M-Vac President Jared Bradley told Talk Business & Politics. The system may not have been a fit for the food industry, but according to the FBI, it’s been a revelation when it comes to solving unsolved crimes.

M-Vac is now primarily used to collect DNA in criminal cases. A man who pleaded to an Alford Plea in the murders of three eight-year-old boys in West Memphis, Damien Echols, has petitioned the state of Arkansas to use M-Vac testing on the ligatures collected in the case.

https://www.ualrpublicradio.org/local-regional-news/2022-06-21/head-of-dna-firm-says-allowing-testing-of-wm3-evidence-could-provide-new-clues

Christopher Counts/KARK-Channel 4

Damien Echols, one of three people convicted in 1994 of killing three 8-year-old West Memphis boys, has filed a petition for the state to conduct advanced DNA testing of evidence.