Health Agency Vows To Be More Open

The state Health Department, which failed to tell the public about a Boise outbreak of food poisoning, says it will be more open.

But it stops short of setting a policy on alerts.

The Central District Health Department, in consultation with top state officials, says it will provide more information about food-borne and other diseases to the public.

But with no written standards on announcing a case, officials say they will know it when they see it.

“The decision to go public on a particular disease is an integral part of the entire decision-making process,” Central District Director Kathy Holley said.

“It doesn’t stand alone as its own policy.”

The state agency decided to review its procedures after 21 people who ate lettuce at a Chili’s Restaurant between Sept. 14 and Sept. 22 fell ill with E. coli 0157:H7.

It is the same strain that sickened hundreds of people and killed three children in a 1993 outbreak linked to Jack In The Box restaurants across the Northwest.

No deaths were reported in the Boise outbreak, which ranks as one of the largest in the nation this year.

Health officials decided that by the time they pinned down the source of the illness, the danger had passed.

There was no reason to tell the public, they reasoned.

Word of the cases leaked to the media Oct. 7.

News reports drew out others sickened during the outbreak, and the number of cases climbed to 21.

The state Department of Health and Welfare helped decide against a formal policy on outbreak alerts.

“To every policy … we thought we might be able to come up with, we would come up with exceptions,” said Dick Schultz, administrator of Health and Welfare’s Division of Health.

“There were always extenuating circumstances that would obviate the policy.”

Those officials agree that if they had the Chili’s case to do over again, they would have notified the public.

In the event of another E. coli attack, they will issue notification even before they pinpoint a source.

Holley pointed to an example of the new, more open policy in force.

Notices were sent out Nov. 2 about a 400 percent increase in cases of another food-borne illness, shigella, which causes diarrhea, fever, cramps, nausea and vomiting.

The reason for the increase has not been determined.

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