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Salmonella Outbreak Sickens 172 Nationwide

October 31, 2006

Food Safety • CDC Gives "All Clear" On Salmonella Outbreak • One Death Reported in Oklahoma E. coli Outbreak • Feds Approve Irradiation of Spinach, Lettuce • FDA Issues Warning About Frozen Seafood • Whole Foods Extends Beef Recall • Whole Foods Recalls Fresh Ground Beef • Six New E. coli Cases Reported In Massachusetts • FDA Says It Found Salmonella Source In Mexico • U.S. Peppers Get Clean Bill Of Health • Jalapeño Peppers from Mexico Recalled • Tomatoes Get the All-Clear From FDA • Salmonella Toll Quietly Climbs • USDA to List Retailers in Meat Recalls • Emergency Regs Needed for Tracking Produce, Food Groups Say • Nebraska Beef Recall Expanded to 5.3 Million Pounds • Consumer Group Presses Feds to Fix Food System • Kroger Expands Ground Beef Recall • Salmonella Outbreak is Biggest Ever Tied to Produce • E. coli Outbreak May Be Linked To Kroger Ground Beef • Salmonella: Trickier Than Imagined • Congressional Report Faults FDA Inaction • Tomatoes Off the Menu as Feds Search for Source • FDA 'Inaction' Blamed for Salmonella Outbreak • Restaurants Shun Tomatoes In Wake Of Salmonella Outbreak • FDA Warns Of Tomato-Linked Salmonella • USDA Bans Downer Cow Slaughter • CDC Links 2006 Salmonella Outbreak to Dog Food --- • More ...

Government health officials are investigating another outbreak of food contamination. Like September's E. coli outbreak, the current salmonella cases may be linked to produce.

Thus far, as many as 172 people in 18 states have gotten sick and 11 have been hospitalized.

The salmonella bacteria may have spread through tomatoes, according to the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention. But a CDC spokesman says no link has yet been established between the bacteria and specific food products or food distribution chains.

CDC officials say they have been monitoring the salmonella outbreak for the last two weeks, as it grew and spread across the country.

To date, affected states include Arkansas, Connecticut, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, North Carolina, New Hampshire, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Virginia, Vermont and Wisconsin.

CDC scientists say most of the salmonella cases have occurred in adults and most of those cases have occurred in women. The CDC says the current outbreak involves one of the more common forms of the bacteria.

The Salmonella germ is actually a group of bacteria that can cause diarrheal illness in humans. They are microscopic living creatures that pass from the feces of people or animals, to other people or other animals.

The typical symptoms include diarrhea, fever and stomach pain, which start up to three days after people become infected.

The symptoms usually go away after one week. But some people have to see a doctor or be hospitalized because the diarrhea is severe or the infection has affected other organs.

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