It's had more than its share of press coverage during the last few years, and deservedly so. A Seattle pediatrician noticed a larger than normal number of children with hemolytic uremic syndrome, the most common cause of kidney failure in children. Unfortunately, by the time the children came to him, the pediatrician couldn't do much but maintain them and wait out the disease.
Prevention requires knowing where the bacteria that contaminated the beef and milk originated.
During slaughter some of the bacteria contaminates the surface of the carcass. These surfaces are often trimmed from the carcass and added to other trims to be ground into hamburger. Current efforts to reduce the contamination involve the development of surface treatments that can be used in slaughterhouses. Meanwhile, the consumer can counteract contamination by cooking ground beef thoroughly. Infections last for about one or two months, then are gone.