ATLANTA, Jan. 9, 2009
Salmonella Outbreak Hits 42 States
CDC: Nearly 400 People Sickened; Bacteria May Be Cause Of One Elderly Woman's Death
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The ourbreak of Typhimurium-type salmonella, among the most common, has sickened nearly 400 people and may have caused one death. But officials are not close to determining the source. (AP)
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Quiz Food Safety Quiz Are your kitchen habits endangering you and your loved ones?
Nearly 400 people have become ill in the outbreak that might have killed one person. An elderly woman in Minnesota had the infection when she died, although it's not clear that salmonella was the cause, a health department spokesman there said.
The same type of salmonella bacteria has been lab-confirmed in 388 cases nationwide, said the CDC, which is leading the investigation but has not yet released the list of states or determined which foods may have caused people to become sick.
However, health officials in California, Georgia, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota and Ohio have confirmed cases. Ohio and California reported the most, with 51 cases each.
Nationally, all the illnesses began between Sept. 3 and Dec. 29, but most of the people grew sick after Oct. 1.
Most people develop diarrhea, fever and abdominal cramps 12 to 72 hours after infection. The illness usually lasts four to seven days, and most people recover without treatment.
Officials say steps to protect against the illness include careful handling and preparation of raw meat, and frequent hand washing.
CDC officials say the cases in the outbreak have all been genetically fingerprinted as the Typhimurium type, which is among the most common forms of salmonella food poisoning. Of those cases for which CDC officials have medical treatment information, 18 percent were hospitalized.
A Connecticut congresswoman on Thursday said she was frustrated that health officials don't yet know how the bacteria have been spreading.
Not knowing what food is responsible means the U.S. Food and Drug Administration or the U.S. Department of Agriculture cannot help track the original source, said U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, a Democrat who chairs the Agriculture-FDA appropriations subcommittee.
"Any delays in these critical investigations can sicken more people," DeLauro said in a statement.
But foodborne illness investigations can be very complicated, and it can take weeks or months for health officials to interview patients, find common links in what they ate, test suspected foods and come up with a clear-cut cause, said Michael Doyle, director of the University of Georgia's Center for Food Safety.
"There's a lot more to this than meets the eye," he said.
There are about 2,000 types of salmonella and about 40,000 cases are reported each year.
Of lab-confirmed cases, salmonella Typhimurium is the most common. The bacteria type is a year-round threat because it's found in meat and eggs, and not as subject to seasonal food supply variations as produce.
The current outbreak's bacteria are different from the salmonella Saintpaul bug that caused more than 1,400 illnesses last spring and summer. That was traced to vegetables from Mexico - jalapeno and serrano peppers and possibly certain types of tomatoes.
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Add a Comment See all 25 Comments
- Check out page6 (NY Daily News) on Jan 09. One of the Olsen twins was seen leaving the toilet without washing her hands. Sometimes the only thing between your food and the toilet is a thin sheet of tissue.
GO WASH YOUR HANDS!
Posted by caldwellptr at 09:49 PM : Jan 10, 2009
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Why should she wash her hands? To wash herself clean of her brain? - Reply to this comment
- Check out page6 (NY Daily News) on Jan 09. One of the Olsen twins was seen leaving the toilet without washing her hands. Sometimes the only thing between your food and the toilet is a thin sheet of tissue.
GO WASH YOUR HANDS! - Reply to this comment
- Seriously...why does everything revert to Democrats vs Republicans!? The story is about a bacteria, but you make it political...really? Why can''t we all just post things that are helpful and RELATED to the story?
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- Whitemale08 said: "It won''''t be long before many diseases that happen in 3rd world countries will be happening here. Already tuberculosis has made a come back, dengi and salmonella are just examples of how our country is too poor and bankrupt to have a world class food safety program."
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I agree whitemale. Just like our roads, bridges, air traffic control and about every other aspect of our infrastructure are neglected and going to ***. - Reply to this comment
- It won''t be long before many diseases that happen in 3rd world countries will be happening here.
Already tuberculosis has made a come back, dengi and salmonella are just examples of how our country is too poor and bankrupt to have a world class food safety program. - Reply to this comment
- Gotta remember to clean your kitchen after handling poultry. If eggs are a contaminated mess..what about how they are processed? Can''t blame all the little turtles of the world anymore..but having had little turtles..if the animal doesnt live in it''s own toilet bowl it doesn''t get the diesease. Same goes for any animal along the process of food chain. I want food labeled if it came from china and that includes my dog''s food. I don''t want to buy their chickens or other mystery meat.
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- With grocery stores and restaurants keeping foods past the safe date because business has declined, that is one possible cause.
The flu vaccine is incubated in raw eggs, that is another possible cause.
Food coming in from overseas with little or no oversight is another possible cause.
To many possible causes, time to cut back on where we eat, what we eat, and what we allow injected into our bodies. - Reply to this comment
- As long as we keep importing foods from other countries where we have absolutely no control over any of the processes, including the hygiene of the processors or pickers, and as long as we have an inadequate number of food inspectors, and lastly, as long as we insist on eating food, mainly produce, out of season, we will continue to have these problems.
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- Another good reason to be a vegan...no meat, no diary, no eggs...now that is a saintly diet, but *** is it hard to stay on it (sinner that I am)!!
Posted by juliemd
Remember the spinach outbreak of last year? - Reply to this comment
- you might be right b4ucmyl. I ate an egg sandwich at cracker barrell in virginia the first weekend in January and about 30 minutes later was sick as a dog.
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- corporate America working hand in hand with the FDA to make sure our population does not get out of hand,,,,just one more case where the government department that is supposed to be the watchdog...is falling down on the job, from the same people that allow poisons to be put into products we use,,,like the poison Aspartame that millions use daily and don''t even know they are being poisoned.
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- Vaccine''''s did it, hey moron why not just blame bill clinton again?
What an idiot
Posted by pythoncharly
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Not necessarily the flu vaccine is incubated in raw eggs. Flu vaccines were distributed in early October. If the eggs they used had the bacteria it is possible that it infected the vaccines. This could be a "possible" cause. - Reply to this comment
- Given the current economy it is very possible that this could be attributed to grocery stores and restaurants. If fresh meat and eggs are not moving, these places could be redistributing tainted foods. Either by changing dates on packages or mixing older meats with fresh meat and repackaging it to offset their losses.
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- Nationwide points to Medicines or Vaccine, probably the Flu Vaccine, they use eggs in that. Which of course is why we are not being told the cause.
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Posted by drinuk at 02:25 PM
I wonder if there might be something to what you''re saying. Both of my parents got this and were hospitalized, but they couldn''t imagine how they contracted it. I do think they got their flu shots. - Reply to this comment
- Nationwide points to Medicines or Vaccine, probably the Flu Vaccine, they use eggs in that. Which of course is why we are not being told the cause.
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- who says its the democrats. the reports say it has been on since october. was that still their watch?
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- The only real God does not afflict people with illness neither can your sin make Him afflict you. Jesus has already paid the price. Ignorance of this info is what makes people let the devil afflict them
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- A year or so ago, there was an outbreak of this nature traced to commercial lettuce fields in the central part of California and attributed to wild pig waste, this, after a goose chase directed at jalapeqo peppers. While many would dispute the correlation, the fact remains that just two years prior to that outbreak, wild pig hunting had been outlawed by voters in the region. Be careful what, or whom, you vote for!!
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- Another good reason to be a vegan...no meat, no diary, no eggs...now that is a saintly diet, but *** is it hard to stay on it (sinner that I am)!!
- Reply to this comment
- I''m not worried, I''m a sinner and I like it!
- Reply to this comment
Best-selling author Mitch Albom on his first nonfiction work since "Tuesdays with Morrie."
