Ill workers at an Indiana slaughterhouse where compressed air was used to remove pig brains have symptoms similar to those involved in an earlier outbreak in Minnesota, federal health officials said.
The employees who became ill worked on the "head tables," where the animals' heads are processed, on the killing floors, Centers for Disease Control (CDC) spokeswoman Lola Russell said on Wednesday. Both plants shoot compressed air into the skulls until the pigs' brains come spilling out.
"It may be associated with this particular technique of using high-pressure air to remove the pig's brain," Russell said.
The Indiana workers' symptoms included changes in sensation and weakness in their limbs, Russell said. Those symptoms are similar to a mysterious cluster of neurological symptoms reported last month among 12 workers at a pork slaughterhouse in Austin, Minnesota.
The number of sick workers in Indiana, details of their conditions, the name of the company and the company's location were not disclosed.
Elizabeth Hart, a spokeswoman for the Indiana State Department of Health, said she could not comment until a meeting with a state epidemiologist set for yesterday morning.
In the Minnesota case, health officials suspect the workers were exposed to something in the brain tissue that triggered the illness. Officials are continuing to investigate, but so far they have not identified any viruses or bacteria that could be causing the disease.
Five of the 12 workers afflicted have been diagnosed with chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy, or CIDP, a rare immune disorder that attacks the nerves and produces tingling, numbness and weakness in the arms and legs, sometimes causing lasting damage.
Kenneth Gorson, a neurologist at St. Elizabeth's Medical Center in Boston, has said that victims can recover fairly quickly if the illness is caught early. However, at least one of the Minnesota workers was told she may never work again. In advanced cases, Gorson said treatment arrests the disease but does not reverse its effects.
Minnesota state epidemiologist Ruth Lynfield said the discovery of the Indiana illness could help her investigation.
"That may help us figure out why these workers are getting sick," she said.
After the Minnesota slaughterhouse illness was reported, the CDC looked into slaughtering practices in 25 large pork processing plants in 13 states and found only two other plants -- one in Indiana, the other in Nebraska -- that used compressed air to remove pigs' brains.
Minnesota health officials said the pork plants in all three states have voluntarily stopped that practice.
Pork brains are sometimes fried and eaten in sandwiches or with gravy in some areas. But the market is small and the American Meat Institute, which represents many pork processors, does not track sales.
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
TRUMP EFFECT: The win capped one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Canadian political history after the Conservatives had led the Liberals by more than 20 points Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday pledged to win US President Donald Trump’s trade war after winning Canada’s election and leading his Liberal Party to another term in power. Following a campaign dominated by Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, Carney promised to chart “a new path forward” in a world “fundamentally changed” by a US that is newly hostile to free trade. “We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” said Carney, who led the central banks of Canada and the UK before entering politics earlier this year. “We will win this trade war and
Armed with 4,000 eggs and a truckload of sugar and cream, French pastry chefs on Wednesday completed a 121.8m-long strawberry cake that they have claimed is the world’s longest ever made. Youssef El Gatou brought together 20 chefs to make the 1.2 tonne masterpiece that took a week to complete and was set out on tables in an ice rink in the Paris suburb town of Argenteuil for residents to inspect. The effort overtook a 100.48m-long strawberry cake made in the Italian town of San Mauro Torinese in 2019. El Gatou’s cake also used 350kg of strawberries, 150kg of sugar and 415kg of