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In 1996, more than a dozen children in Seattle, Washington were seriously ill and
fighting for their lives. All gripped by a mysterious illness. When one of the children died, officials feared more
deaths would follow, and medical detectives frantically searched for the cause. [Music]
Terry and Kelly Beverly both worked in the computer industry and have two children, a son Michael and a daughter
Betina. After a leisurely day of playing in the woods, Michael complained of pain in his
stomach. Later, he had uncontrolled diarrhea. When his diarrhea contained blood, his parents became alarmed. He
was just laying on the couch just still um ch having uh bloody diapers every um every 30 minutes and you just very
painful >> and uh it was just just changing and just heart looking at his little body
was turning itself inside out. The Beverly took Michael to a hospital emergency room where doctors discovered
that his blood count had dropped to dangerous levels. His kidneys were failing and life-threatening clots were
forming in his blood. >> Acute bloody diarrhea, an otherwise healthy child is a important medical
problem and uh physicians here and elsewhere work that up very aggressively, take that very seriously.
>> Michael's stool sample was sent to the laboratory for testing. Doctors were alarmed when they found a potentially
deadly pathogen known as E.coli0157. It's a bacteria usually found in the intestines of both humans and animals.
When an individual becomes infected, there is no cure. E.coli0157 infects more than 20,000 people each
year, killing 500 of them. In 1993, four people died after eating E. coli tainted hamburgers from the Jack in the
Box fast food chain. Fully cooking hamburgers can kill the E.coli bacteria, but these burgers had not been fully
cooked. When I found out it was um uh the strain of E.coli, and uh I asked him if it was the same strain that affected
the kids in Jack in a Box, he said, "Yes, Michael has the same strain." And I said, "Oh my god. When eco157 is in a
widely disseminated vehicle out for out in the population for general consumption, it's like a serial murderer
is potentially loose in the population. Brienne Ker was one of the children infected with E.coli0157
from an undercooked hamburger purchased at the Jack-in-theBox restaurant. She was in a coma for 6 weeks.
The E.coli coli produces cytotoxins which kill other cells breaking through the endothelial layer of the intestines
spilling poisons into the bloodstream. That complication is called hemolytic uremic syndrome.
Although Brienne Ker eventually came out of her coma, most of her major organs were damaged and she'll need a kidney
transplant when she's older. Michael Beverly also developed hemolytic uremic syndrome which can cause brain damage,
kidney damage, sepsis and death. Doctors immediately placed Michael on kidney dialysis to cleanse his body of
toxins. Hemolytic uremic syndrome is life-threatening. Of all the kinds of diarrheas a child, an otherwise healthy
child is can get in North America, almost none will uh cause a death or could cause a death except for this one.
That's why this one is so uh fearsome once it gets into a person. >> The kidney specialist came in and he
said it's very serious and he might not pull through the night. It's up to his little body. And then that's when I just
broke down. I I came out and I started crying immediately. I I just I said this is it. As Michael Beverly lay near death
in a Seattle hospital, medical investigators were still trying to figure out how he came into contact with
this deadly pathogen. As 2 and 1/2year-old Michael Beverly lay unconscious and near death in a Seattle
hospital, 12 more children were admitted to local hospitals. All diagnosed with the same deadly pathogen E. coli0157.
Since there is no cure for E.coli0157, investigators needed to find the source of the outbreak before even more people
were infected. My biggest concern was that the cases we were seeing every other day
were just the very beginning of a much larger outbreak. Medical investigators suspected that
food was the probable source. But the EC coli might have been in one food source
or many. Dr. Mansour Samadpur's job was to see if he could identify the exact strain of E.coli coli that infected the
children. To find out, he turned to something usually used for criminal investigations, DNA testing. When we say
E.coli0157, it's a very large clan, very large family or tribe in the E.coli species. When we do genetic
fingerprinting, we can go to the individuals in that family. So instead of saying that some you know uh someone
with the last name of Smith killed someone else, we can say that uh John Smith with social security number
of such and such living in such and such place committed the crime. >> Like human beings a pathogen like E.coli
has its own genetic fingerprint. Using what is called microrestriction fingerprinting, the E.coli coli samples
were placed in a buffer of restriction enzymes which break the cells open. Then the DNA strands are cut into smaller
pieces making them easier to analyze. The fragments are placed into a gel with a dye
and after a process called electrofaresis, the genetic profile appears similar to a
barcode. The results indicated that all of the E.coli E coli strains were the same. In other words, all of the sick
individuals had been infected from the same source. >> We had nine patients that had
E.coli0157s in them with the same genetic fingerprint. Definitely that that shows
that you have a growing outbreak. >> E.coli0157 has a long incubation period, 5 to 7
days, far longer than most food born illnesses. Dr. Russ Alexander's job was to figure out what was causing the
outbreak. The standard method is to employ what's called a case control study. Investigators questioned all of
the patients families to find out what the victims had consumed 5 to 7 days before first developing symptoms. They
also compared those answers to what others in the same family consumed who were not infected. Our early thinking
was that this was probably a meat sauce because that's what mostly is what it is. So we are looking for everything
they've eaten and what kind of restaurants they've been to, what kind of fast food restaurants in particular.
>> But the initial interviews did not reveal any one food item that all had consumed.
>> There was something in common with these individuals that made these individuals
ill. On the other hand, the preliminary interview did not produce any obvious uh
sources of infection. >> But when investigators looked more carefully over their initial results,
they found a clue. >> One of the sick children was a vegetarian. >> We had this one case that was a
clear-cut case. It was a vegetarian family and there was no chance of any meat in this particular instance. So we
quickly realized we were into something else. >> This time another more detailed
questionnaire was designed with meat excluded as the possible cause. The new questionnaire centered on fruits,
vegetables, dairy products, and related food sources. >> Not until we had gotten enough cases uh
coming in with this this uh extended questionnaire that we began to see something else that was in terms of the
source. By the end of the week, we were already pretty sure that uh there was that there was one thing that was
standing out. >> The second set of interviews revealed that the victims had all consumed apple
juice. But with hundreds of brands on the market, investigators feared it would be difficult to find out which
one. When Seattle health officials discovered that apple juice was consumed by the
E.coli patients, they needed to find out which brand. And there were hundreds of
brands on the market. But their next clue came from an unexpected source. In Denver, Colorado, doctors were treating
a desperately ill 16-month-old girl named Anna Gimmestad. Anna also had an E.coli015. coli0157
infection and her parents told doctors that they had been in Seattle just one week earlier.
The Gimmestads recalled feeding Anna some apple juice, a brand she preferred because of the bright rainbow colors on
the label, Odala. The Beverly family also recall feeding their son Michael the same brand from a
neighborhood coffee shop. This one particular Sunday I went up and stood in line and you know to order our drinks
and I saw them prepare it and I asked them you you use Odala for the kids and they go well yeah so I'm like oh
>> further investigation revealed that the other victims also consumed Odwala apple
juice 5 to 7 days before developing symptoms. The Odwala Company manufactures and
distributes juice products in seven states and British Columbia. It's a brand known for its freshness.
Most fruit juices are pasteurized, which means they're heated to a temperature high enough to kill any bacteria. But
Odala Juice was not pasteurized. The company believed that pasteurization hurt the taste of their juice. The
company's mission statement read, "If it's not freshsqueezed, then it's not Odwala."
Just 9 days after the outbreak, health officials asked the Odwala company to voluntarily remove their product from
storeshelves. The company complied even though there was no conclusive proof that Odala was the source of the
outbreak. As you know, immediately upon hearing of the possibility of consumer health risks, we recalled our products
containing apple juice. Our primary concern is for the health and welfare of our consumers.
>> The news that the source may have been apple juice was little relief to the Gistad family in Evans, Colorado.
16-month-old Anna was taking a turn for the worse. Like some of the other victims, Anna developed hemolytic uremic
syndrome, a complication of the E.coli infection that produces toxins that shut down the kidneys.
Less than 2 weeks after Anakimistad consumed the Odala apple juice, she died. For the Beverly's, news of
Anagistad's death was terrifying. Just knowing that there was a 16-month-old that died, I was very that
just to me I knew he was I thought he was going to die. To be frank, I said, "This is it. He's going to die."
>> And although investigators discovered that all of the affected individuals had
consumed Oduala juice, there was no proof that the juice was the source of the outbreak. The proof, if there was
any, would be in the juice itself. Thousands of bottles of Odoala juice were tested for E.coli. coli0157,
but the deadly pathogen could not be found. Medical investigators were starting to wonder whether they were
ever going to find scientific proof that the apple juice was the source of the outbreak.
All of the E.coli victims remember drinking Odala apple juice shortly before getting sick, but investigators
couldn't find the E.coli coli bacteria in any of the Odala juice bottles they tested. But on November 4th, 1996
at the Odala distribution center, investigators found one bottle of apple juice that tested positive for
E.coli0157. The question now was whether the bottle contained the same strain that caused
the death of Anagistad and infected Michael Beverly and the other children. To find out, investigators turned once
again to DNA testing. The DNA profile on the left is the E.coli strain from Michael Beverly. On the right, the DNA
profile of the E.coli found in the bottle of Odala apple juice. The profiles were identical. Scientific
proof that the Odala juice was the source. Being able to identify the same genetic
strain of E.coli in a bottle of unopened Odwala juice given that an estimated 40,000 of these bottles. It's not
finding a needle in a haystack. It's finding a needle out of about 100 hay stacks spread across most of western
United States. The label revealed the juice had been bottled on October 7th, 1996, 3 weeks before the outbreak.
Company records identified the orchard whose apples were used to make the juice that day. Dr. Sarah Cody, an epidemic
intelligence officer with the California Department of Health, went to the orchard to investigate.
>> We were wandering in the orchard and what we noticed was along the edge of the orchard there were a number of uh
deer prints in the sand. And neared the deer prince were deer droppings, a potential source of
E.coli0157. Dr. Cody wondered whether some of the apples had fallen to the ground, had
come into contact with the deer droppings, and then were picked up and sent to the juice processing plant.
Dr. Cody collected samples which were sent to the lab for testing. The E.coli E coli from the deer
droppings was then sent for DNA testing, but it did not match the E.coli strain that infected the 13 children.
>> It's possible that there could have been one deer or a number of deer that were
shedding one strain or more than one strain. So perhaps we just isolated the wrong strain or perhaps we got the wrong
deer, perhaps we got the wrong orchard. The Odala company says that it's against
their policy to purchase apples that were picked up from the ground. >> Even though Odwala claimed to have
documents, signed documents from their suppliers that they did not use ground apples or apples from the ground. We
found that it's virtually impossible to verify that or to enforce it, especially
when workers are paid by the bin. And in 1996, the US Army considered serving Odwala juice to military personnel. But
after an inspection of the Odala processing plant, military investigators stated that Odwala's plant sanitation
program does not adequately assure product wholesomeness for military consumers. The Army rated the bacteria
levels in the juice as too high. A copy of the US Army report found its way into
the hands of the attorney representing the victims of the E.coli outbreak, William Marlor.
>> Adala was trying to sell Adalla juice to the US Army. No, not as a bacteriological weapon, but the amount
of bacteria that were that was in the finished product samples were in the millions
where any possible responsible company would have had it in the the tens. >> The United States Attorney General's
office took the unprecedented step of indicting Odala in a criminal prosecution. the charge delivering
adulterated food products for interstate commerce. >> And when we find a company that has
knowingly placed contaminated food into the stream of commerce, we are going to prosecute that company and we are going
to put the individuals in jail. And that's a very strong lesson and it's one that that uh that people that
manufacture food in this country ought to take to heart. In July of 1998, Oduala pleaded guilty and was fined $1.5
million, the largest penalty ever imposed in a food poisoning case. Oduala products are now pasteurized and
carry warning labels. But for the family of 16-month-old Anna Gimad, that was too
little, too late. There's no amount of monetary penalty or jail time that is ever going to bring back little Anna or
make the other dozen or so children that were severely injured whole again. So from that standpoint, I don't think that
there was a possible settlement that would have been satisfactory. >> Ecoli 0157 can cause serious diseases.
There's other food born pathogens out there that can cause serious diseases. uh we have the technology to prevent
many of these uh problems. Uh this uh the consumption of unpasteurized apple juice uh in the 1996 outbreak was a uh
dramatic example of how uh a safe effective technology was not employed uh to the detriment of children in the
Northwest. >> The families of the victims filed suit against Odala and settled with the
company before going to trial. The terms of that settlement were not disclosed. Michael Beverly now appears to be in
good health, but he and the other children still faced the possibility of future medical complications from their
E. coli0157 infection. >> What was it that almost killed Michael? It was E.coli. It was the effects of
E.coli E coli toxin in his body eating up his his system. That's what almost killed him.
>> Unfortunately, I see it a little different. I see it I see it as what almost killed him was um a company's
negligence and irresponsibility and this shouldn't have happened. >> The smoking gun in this case was the
science. It was what the forensics gave us. Odala had no wiggle room. It was conclusive. It was a matter of
scientific principle that Odwallis product had E.coli0157H7 in it and that that was the same exact
bacteria which was in the victims. [Music] Everybody. Heat. Heat. [Music] [Applause]
[Music]

Season 4 Episode 10 | In 1996, more than a dozen children in Seattle, Washington were fighting for their lives. Each one of them had contracted a serious unknown illness. After one died, investigators knew the clock was ticking.

Brief Summary

The episode covers the 1996 E. coli outbreak linked to Odwala apple juice, detailing the investigation and its consequences.

Key points

The Mysterious Illness. In 1996, over a dozen children in Seattle fell seriously ill from a mysterious pathogen.
The Danger of E.coli0157. E.coli0157 infects over 20,000 people annually, with a significant mortality rate.
Identifying the Source. Investigators traced the outbreak to Odwala apple juice, which was not pasteurized.
Legal Consequences for Odwala. Odwala faced criminal prosecution for delivering adulterated food products.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

It's like a serial murderer is potentially loose in the population.

Describing the danger of E.coli0157 in the community.

2:57WatchOct 16, 2025

Tension

75/ 100High tension

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