The Nation - News from Aug. 27, 1987

A tainted package of ground beef from a 35,000-pound federal commodities lot was the source of a rare bacterial disease that killed four people and sickened 16 this summer, Utah health officials said. The outbreak of hemolytic uremic syndrome, or HUS, killed two residents of the Utah State Training School and two at a Salt Lake County group home for the mentally retarded between July 4 and July 23. The package of meat found at the Salt Lake County group home contained E. coli bacterium , which harbor the disease, said Utah Department of Health spokesman Ross Martin. He said the remainder of the 35,000-pound shipment had been distributed to consumers throughout Utah, but no other incidents of HUS were reported.