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Salmonella Outbreak January 2009

January 2009 - Another Salmonella Outbreak

An ongoing salmonella outbreak has sickened 388 people in 42 states, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC).  At least 67 people have been hospitalized; no deaths have been reported.

The CDC has not released the names of the states involved. However, the Ohio Department of Health says in a news release that there have been 50 cases among residents of that state, making Ohio the state with the second most cases.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) saida that it is working closely with the CDC to identify the cause of the outbreak. If the CDC determines that the illnesses were caused by an FDA-regulated product, the FDA will perform a "traceback" investigation to determine the specific product linked to the outbreak and how that product became contaminated.

The salmonella strain is a common one:  Salmonella typhimurium.  It is the same type of salmonella that in 2007 sickened 401 people in 41 states.  A CDC investigation traced the 2007 outbreak to undercooked not-ready-to-eat Banquet brand frozen pot pies.

The recent salmonella outbreak traced to peppers (and possibly tomatoes) was the saintpaul strain, a different type of salmonella.

Previous outbreaks of Salmonella typhimurium have been traced to poultry, raw milk and cheese, and pet turtles.

For more information about salmonella, see the attorneys at Berger & Lagnese, Pennsylvania's premier food poisoning law firm.