Salmonella in the News
News page with stories about Salmonella outbreaks from food poisoning or other sources, outbreaks amongst poultry and related items.
20 August 2008
Salmonellosis, serotype Agona, 5 European countries affected
The salmonellosis outbreak possibly linked to a meat plant in County Kildare, Ireland, has now spread to Sweden and France, bringing to 5 the number of European Union countries affected.
The latest figures for the outbreak of _Salmonella_ Agona, released last night [18 Aug 2008], show some 132 people have now been infected. Sweden has reported its 1st 2 cases, while France has confirmed 1 person has been infected by the relatively rare strain of the bacterium.
The genetic fingerprint of the microbe has been linked to a particular production line at the Dawn Farm Foods plant in Naas. Of the 132 people, some 125 have had an isolate with the same genetic fingerprint as samples taken from the meat plant. Final test results are awaited on a further 7 cases.
A spokeswoman for the Health Protection Surveillance Centre said a water specimen taken from a Scottish river contained the exact same strain of _Salmonella_ Agona but it had subsequently been established that the microbe had originated in a sewage outlet and was therefore the result rather than the cause of the outbreak.
Of the 132 people who have become sick as a result of the infection, some 76 cases have been identified in England with Scotland reporting
31 cases. 11 people in Ireland are now known to have been affected, with 4 of these requiring hospital treatment. Finland, France and Sweden are the other EU states where cases have been found. The European Centre for Disease Control has reported that the Finnish case arose after the person ate beef strips contained in a sandwich.
As a result of the outbreak, beef strips, chicken, lamb and pork supplied to at least 8 European countries and to Kuwait have been withdrawn by Dawn Farm Foods.
9 August 2008
Salmonellosis, serotype Agona, United Kingdom
A Salmonella [enterica_ serotype] Agona outbreak across the British Isles that has infected 90 people may be linked to sandwiches sold by the Subway sandwich chain. Laboratory tests have shown a link between cases of illness and one of the US chain's ingredient suppliers. Cooked beef, chicken, and bacon have been impounded at Dawn Farm Foods in County Kildare, Ireland.
2 July 2008
Salmonellosis, serotype Typhimurium U292, Denmark
More than 4000 people in Denmark may be infected with salmonella in what may become the worst outbreak there in 15 years. Urgent checks are being conducted to find the source of a salmonellosis outbreak that officials say may be caused by a food product distributed only in Denmark, but no single source has yet been named.
According to the Danish Ministry of Health, 330 cases have been confirmed and about a quarter of those people have been hospitalized.
About 30 new cases are reported every day and the number has risen significantly over the past 6 weeks. Officials suspect the outbreak to be linked to meat products. The strain has been identified as _Salmonella [enterica_ serotype] Typhimurium U292.
June 2008
Outbreak of Salmonellosis in a kindergarten in Estonia
The Estonian Health Protection Inspectorate (HPI) is investigating an outbreak of salmonellosis in a kindergarten in Harju County. As of 28 May 2008, 94 salmonellosis cases had been reported, including 85 children and nine employees of the kindergarten. Of the 94 cases, 71 were laboratory-confirmed for Salmonella enteritidis and 23 were shown to be epidemiologically linked.
See full report on the Eurosurveillance website