Mystery Illness Hits Slaughterhouse workers

Slaughterhouse workers at an Indiana facility fell ill last week and investigators are looking for a connection to a similar outbreak of illness at a Minnesota plant.

The Associated Press reports workers at the Indiana slaughterhouse were on the killing floor’s “head table” where compressed air is used to clear pig brains when they noticed the illness. Those at the Minnesota facility held similar jobs, where the air sends brains to the floor clear of the head, part of processing procedure.

Officials from the federal Centers for Disease Control are investigating the outbreak at both facilities. Workers in Indiana report a “change in sensation” and weakened limbs, as did those dozen workers in Minnesota.

Officials did not release the name of the processing facilities, or the names of the victims.

Some Minnesota workers visited a doctor where they realized they had 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, AP reports.

According to a doctor in the article, early detection and treatment will hold the disorder at bay, but likely will not reverse its effects. One worker at the Minnesota facility was told she would not work again.

CDC officials said preliminarily that the process of blowing the brains from the animals may be the cause of the outbreak. Workers could have been exposed to brain tissue, but no conclusions were drawn just yet and no bacteria has been identified that could cause these symptoms.

A CDC investigation revealed that only 3 of 25 meat processing plants used the compressed air technique to remove brains from heads.