Expert: Ovadiah ben Avraham - 8/6/2007

Question
I have a medical question.  My colleague and I do infection control for this facility.  We have been working on an outbreak of shigella with our local health department.  All of the literature we review indicates Orthodox Jews to be at high risk for this disease.  I'd like to understand why. Can you help? Is there something in the food preparation , storage, or serving practices that might contribute to this?

Answer
Perhaps you should not fault me for not being able to read your mind (as your 2 questions are very different):

Is there something in the food preparation, storage, or serving practices that might contribute to this?

I'm not sure it really answered "what is it in the dietary laws that would contribute to Orthodox Jews rating so high in the listing of at risk people".

One should always go with his or her first instinct and mine was that you were not asking a legitimate question but rather trying to make some smug point. I should have refused the question and told you to do a Google search yourself. Hind-sight is always 20-20. Perhaps you'd like to ask about blood libel next....he-he.