Apple Commission Joins Listeria Outbreak Investigation in Caramel Apples
California Victim Represents the First Wrongful Death Suit in this Listeria Outbreak
By Laurie Greene, CalAgToday reporter and editor
By Laurie Greene, CalAgToday reporter and editor
Forty years of Salmonella data, a major cause of food poisoning, is now available to the public, the food industry, and researchers in a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The data, collected by state and federal health officials, provides a wealth of information on Salmonella, the top foodborne cause of hospitalizations and deaths in the United States.
Available for hands-on web access for the first time, the Atlas of Salmonella in the United States, 1968-2011 summarizes surveillance data on 32 types of Salmonella isolates from people, animals, and other sources. The information is organized by demographic, geographic and other categories.
“Salmonella causes a huge amount of illness and suffering each year in the United States. We hope these data allow researchers and others to assess what has happened and think more about how we can reduce Salmonella infections in the future,” said Robert Tauxe, M.D., deputy director of CDC’s Division of Foodborne, Waterborne and Environmental Diseases. “The more we understand Salmonella, the more we can make progress in fighting this threat all along the farm to table chain.”
CDC estimates that Salmonella bacteria cause more than 1.2 million illnesses each year in the United States, resulting in more than 23,000 hospitalizations and 450 deaths.
Salmonella infections most often cause vomiting or diarrhea, sometimes severe. In rare cases, Salmonella illness can lead to severe and life-threatening bloodstream infections.
By providing data by age, sex, geography, and season of the year in a downloadable format, the Atlas allows users to view national trends in reported cases of human Salmonella infection over time, problems in specific geographic areas, sources of Salmonella, and the connection between animal and human health.
Serotyping has been the core of public health monitoring of Salmonella infections for over 50 years. Now, scientists use DNA testing to further divide each serotype into more subtypes and to detect more outbreaks.
With the next generation of sequencing technology, advancements continue as the laboratory can find information about the bacteria in just one test.
The data presented likely represent just the tip of the iceberg since many cases of human salmonellosis are not diagnosed and reported to the health department. This underreporting may occur because the ill person does not seek medical care, the health care provider does not obtain a stool culture for testing, or the culture results are not reported to public health officials.
The Salmonella group of bacteria has more than 2,500 different serotypes, but fewer than 100 cause the vast majority of infections in people. Older adults, people with weakened immune systems, and children under five years old have a higher risk for Salmonella infection. Infections in these groups can be more severe, resulting in long-term health consequences or death.
To access the Atlas, please visit http://www.cdc.gov/salmonella/reportspubs/salmonella-atlas/index.html.
For more information on Salmonella, please visit: http://www.cdc.gov/salmonella/.
For more information on food safety, please visit: www.foodsafety.gov.
For more information about preventing Salmonella infections, please visit: http://www.cdc.gov/salmonella/general/prevention.html.
If you have any questions, please contact: CDC Media Relations at (404) 639-3286.
The CDC reports that last year’s Salmonella outbreak associated with Foster Farms poultry appeared to be over around mid-January 2014 when the number of reported infections from all seven outbreak strains of Salmonella Heidelberg returned to baseline levels; however, the CDC investigation still continued.
Ongoing surveillance identified in February that infections from two of the previously rare outbreak strains have again exceeded the number of infections expected to be reported to PulseNet*during this time of year. Investigations conducted by local, state, and federal officials indicate that consumption of Foster Farms brand chicken is the likely source of this outbreak of Salmonella Heidelberg infections.
As of February 28, 2014, a total of 481 persons infected with seven outbreak strains of Salmonella Heidelberg have been reported from 25 states and Puerto Rico, since March 1, 2013.
38% of ill persons have been hospitalized, and no deaths have been reported.
*Since 1996, PulseNet has connected foodborne illness cases together, using DNA “fingerprinting” of the bacteria making people sick, in order to detect and define outbreaks. PulseNet has detected thousands of local and multi-state outbreaks since it began, leading to prevention opportunities and continuous improvements in our food safety systems that might not otherwise have occurred. Since “foodborne illnesses do not respect any borders,” PulseNet International performs a similar role for worldwide foodborne illnesses.