Health Officials Say County Watermelon Cases Total About 19

Orange County health inspectors telephoned 1,700 supermarkets and restaurants and personally inspected 164 more Friday to make sure watermelons, possibly contaminated with pesticide, were pulled from shelves and salad bars.

Bob Merryman, Orange County environmental health director, said his office received calls from about 19 people who suffered illness after eating watermelon, and officials were investigating whether their sickness was a result of pesticide poisoning.

UCI Medical Center’s poison control center was inundated with calls Friday from people who had eaten watermelon on the Fourth of July and then heard news reports of the insecticide contamination, a spokesman said.

But health officials said many of the people could be mistaking other gastrointestinal discomforts--such as the flu--for pesticide poisoning.

Merryman said the pesticide poisoning symptoms--nausea, vomiting, sweating, cramps and diarrhea --are “easily traced to watermelon because the incubation period (of the ingested insecticide) is so short. When a bunch of people eat a watermelon and all get sick a few minutes later, it’s pretty evident.”

‘Only Alleged’ Cases

Still, he stressed that the cases he heard about were “only alleged,” and that at least several people probably suffered the symptoms because of another illness, such as the flu. Or, he said, others could have had “sympathetic” symptoms--their onset caused by the suggestion that something they ate was tainted.

According to health officials, the symptoms from pesticide poisoning begin 15 minutes to two hours after eating the watermelon, and the discomfort should last no more than 18 hours.

“The problem is that the symptoms of exposure are indistinguishable from mild viral gastrointestinal problems,” said Dr. Thomas Prendergast, deputy assistant director of Orange County epidemiology and disease control.

“I don’t know how we will know for sure since there is no test to determine whether pesticide poisoning has occurred,” Prendergast said. However, he added, if several people have eaten one watermelon and only one person gets sick, it is unlikely pesticide is to blame.

He said if people are suffering severe symptoms, they should see a doctor, “because it’s probably not (pesticide poisoning).” However, if the symptoms are mild and brief, a doctor’s visit is probably not necessary, he said.

As of 5 p.m. Friday, the UCI Medical Center poison control center had logged more than 230 calls since Thursday afternoon from people concerned about possible pesticide poisoning, but the majority of the callers appeared not to be afflicted, spokesmen said.

Those who possibly were afflicted were referred to emergency rooms or their doctors, poison control center spokesman Richard Thomas said. Many calls were from concerned people who either had no symptoms, or their symptoms appeared too long after eating watermelon to be linked to the fruit, he said.

“I think a lot of the reaction is an aftermath from the Jalisco cheese thing,” said Thomas, referring to last month’s recall of bacteria-contaminated Mexican-style cheese, which has been linked to 55 deaths and stillbirths.

Made 1,700 Calls

County environmental health officials called 1,700 market managers and restaurants Friday, asking them to stop selling the fruit while the investigation is under way, Merryman said.

Officials also personally inspected 164 Vons, Lucky, and other markets, and 31 of them had not heard of the watermelon contamination investigation and still had the melons for sale, he said.

There was a direct link of contaminated melons to the Vons stores because six employees at the chain’s El Monte distribution center became ill Thursday after sharing a watermelon, Merryman said. There had also been a suspected case at a Lucky market, he added.

The market and restaurant managers gave the county officials “excellent cooperation,” Merryman said. “They’re used to seeing us now,” he added, referring to the recent cheese recall.

He said the officials’ action was not a recall, but a “remove from sale” order, which is not as serious and indicates that the source of the problem has not been definitely determined. During a recall, health officials make sure the product is off the shelves and destroyed or shipped back. With a “remove from sale” order, store managers are asked only to take the food off the shelves and store it until a decision is made, Merryman said.

Unfortunately, Merryman said, about a quarter of his staff took Friday off, and the task of notifying the markets and restaurants fell on about 30 employees, who put in 275 work hours.

‘Being Extremely Cautious’

“The state is being extremely cautious and conservative,” said Thomas at the poison control center. “Since distribution is unknown, they’re giving a blanket recall of all watermelons.”

Several people who called county health officials about possible pesticide poisoning were interviewed about their symptoms, where they bought the fruit, and what else they ate during three previous meals, to determine whether the sickness was related to other foods, Merryman said.

In addition, any leftover watermelon--even if all that remained were the rinds in the trash can--was taken for testing, he said.

The samples, he said, will be sent to a private lab on Monday, and it will take a week to get results.

County health officials said the pesticide, aldicarb, is an organophosphate sold under the brand name Temik and is not approved for watermelon.

Absorbed Through Roots

Aldicarb is absorbed through the roots and becomes part of the edible portion of the melon, officials said.

UCI poison control center’s Thomas said there appear to be no residual effects of the poisoning, although two pregnant women who had eaten watermelon called the poison center, concerned about possible effects on their fetuses. Only one of the two appeared to have symptoms related to pesticide poisoning, Thomas said, but he referred both to their doctors.

Prendergast said that if large doses of the pesticide are ingested, the chemical can affect the heart rhythm, either speeding it up or slowing it down. But he said it was unlikely that a large enough amount could be ingested by eating watermelon.