MARTIN SLOANE | Supermarket Shopper Dirty supermarket carts are a health problem

Few shoppers would argue that supermarket shopping carts are filthy. All you have to do is look at them to see the rust, dirt and debris. Most supermarkets rarely clean their carts. Yet, it may be nasty things you can't see that should concern you the most.
Supermarket managers say the carts pose no danger to the health of their customers. I am convinced they are wrong. However, it is difficult to prove the danger. I thought finding the connection between a cart handlebar that had E. coli on it and a customer who became violently ill as a result of it would be almost impossible.
Reader's experience
Then last summer I received a letter from one of my readers who knows I am concerned about dirty shopping carts. Barbara described the illness of her 2-year-old granddaughter, "C." (I will not use C's name because her parents feel it could lead to unwanted publicity.)
"After extensive investigation, health department inspectors traced the source (of the infection) to a supermarket shopping cart," wrote Barbara. "My granddaughter rode in the cart sucking her thumb while her mother shopped. Somehow the bacteria were on the handle of the cart and wound up in her mouth."
Hours after a visit to a local supermarket, C developed diarrhea and stomach cramps and no longer had an interest in food. A day later the baby became dehydrated and lethargic. On the morning of the third day, the diarrhea became violent and C's mother, Linda, saw traces of blood in her daughter's stool. She called her pediatrician and a stool sample was rushed to a testing laboratory.
That same day, Linda watched an episode of Phil Donohue's show about young children attacked by Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome (HUS) caused by the E. coli 0157:H7 virus. One of the telltale symptoms of this deadly disease is blood in the stool.
Linda waited anxiously for the test results. The pediatrician called and told Linda to rush her daughter to the pediatric emergency room at the Hartford Hospital. At the time, Hartford Hospital was one of the few in the country that had a pediatric emergency room.
What the disease does
HUS attacks the kidneys, heart and brain as well as many of the other vital organs. The following day, little C lay in the pediatric intensive care unit, falling in and out of sleep, in great pain from pancreatitis.
A catheter had been surgically implanted in her abdominal cavity. It was connected to a kidney dialysis machine, which hummed quietly as it continuously removed waste and excess fluids from her bloodstream. Intravenous tubes dripped medications to control an irregular heartbeat, stomach acid, the pain and hallucinations. She was also receiving transfusions of packed blood platelets.
In the days that followed, C's life hung in the balance. Finally, she began to respond and her systems battled back against HUS. Three weeks later she was well enough to go home.
& quot;The fast diagnosis and the wonderful doctors saved my daughter's life," says Linda. C's recovery at home was long and slow. The heart medication continued for almost a year.
Could C have contracted HUS from E. coli 0157:H7 bacteria on the handle of a supermarket shopping cart?
"After backtracking the incubation period and the onset of the symptoms, it was the only answer that made sense," says C's grandmother. "C did not like meat at that time and didn't eat it. She did not consume anything questionable such as unpasteurized juice or applesauce. During that time she was taken to only two stores, a department store and a supermarket."
"Being a thumb sucker made it more likely that C contracted the E. coli virus from the supermarket cart." C's father, John, a health care professional, told me, "After eliminating the few sources that could have infected her, there remained her visit to the supermarket. I truly believe unsanitary shopping carts represent a health hazard, especially for our children."
Estimates
I think C's father is right. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, estimates that food-borne diseases result in an estimated 76 million illnesses, 325,000 hospitalizations, and 5,000 deaths in the United States each year. How many of them were contracted from filthy germ-carrying shopping carts?
In next week's column, "Clean Carts Can Save Lives!" I will show you some compelling evidence. I will put the dangerous pieces of the puzzle together: The fresh meat in the supermarket meat cases that tested positive for E. coli and other dangerous bacteria; the leaky meat trays; the shopping cart handles that tested positive for blood and other bodily fluids that could transmit these infectious germs; and the astonishing report of filthy, soiled carts retrieved from the streets and then put back in service by supermarkets without being cleaned!
Supermarkets should acknowledge that filthy cars are a serious health safety problem, and supermarket shoppers -- especially parents of small children that ride in the cart's seat -- should realize it.
Please save this column. You may want to send this and next week's columns to your supermarket. If you have a comment or a health-related experience, write to me, Martin Sloane, The Supermarket Shopper in care of The Vindicator. I publish the most interesting letters.
XSend questions and comments to Martin Sloane in care of The Vindicator. The volume of mail precludes individual replies to every letter, but Martin Sloane will respond to letters of general interest in the column.
United Feature Syndicate