More than 400 now sick in Salmonella Oranienburg outbreak of unknown origin
The CDC has identified 140 more patients in a Salmonella Oranienburg outbreak and is still looking for the source of the infections.
With six more states added to the outbreak, the total involved now stands at 35. The new patients bring the total of confirmed patients to 419. Of those with the information available, 66 have been so sick they had to be admitted to hospitals. No deaths have been confirmed as of the update today from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The sick people by state and number of illnesses are: Alabama 1, Arkansas 8, California 6, Connecticut 4, Florida 5, Georgia 2, Illinois 28, Indiana 1, Iowa 1, Kansas 9, Kentucky 9, Louisiana 4, Maryland 22, Massachusetts 10, Michigan 6, Minnesota 20, Mississippi 2, Missouri 5, Nebraska 6, New Jersey 5, New Mexico 8, New York 3, North Carolina 7, North Dakota 2, Ohio 5, Oklahoma 63, Oregon 1, Pennsylvania 4, South Carolina 2, South Dakota 7, Tennessee 2, Texas 111, Utah 2, Virginia 38 and Wisconsin 10.
Illnesses started on dates ranging from June 19 to Sept. 14, but additional patients are expected to be identified.
The CDC and the Food and Drug Administration have been investigating the outbreak since Sept. 2 when the CDC was made aware of 20 illnesses. The FDA announced this week that traceback efforts had begun, but did not reveal what food or foods were being tracked.
“State and local officials have collected food items from some of the restaurants where sick people ate,” according to a CDC update posted on Sept. 24.
“The outbreak strain of Salmonella Oranienburg was found in a sample taken from a takeout condiment cup containing cilantro and lime. The sick person reported that the condiment container also contained onions, but none were left in the cup when it was tested.
“Because multiple food items were present in the container and in the sample that was tested, it is not possible to know which food item was contaminated. We are using this information in conjunction with other available information to help narrow the list of possible foods linked to illness.”
As of today, the CDC was reporting that sick people range in age from less than 1 year to 91 years old, with a median age of 37. Fifty-six percent of the patients are female. Of 214 people with information available, one-third have been hospitalized.
The true number of sick people in an outbreak is likely much higher than the number reported, and the outbreak may not be limited to the states with known illnesses, according to the CDC. This is because many people recover without medical care and are not tested for Salmonella infection. In addition, recent illnesses may not yet be reported as it usually takes 3 to 4 weeks to determine if a sick person is part of an outbreak.
Through interviews with infected people, public health workers have found several “subclusters” of people who ate at restaurants in multiple states before becoming ill. The subclusters are groups of people who did not know each other but who ate at the same restaurants.
The CDC and FDA are closely investigating the subclusters in hopes of finding a common food source.
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