Salmonella Outbreak Reaches Over Half of U.S. States; Does the CDC Have a Bead on the Source?

A Salmonella outbreak that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has described as growing “rapidly” has now sickened 279 people in 29 states, with no strong indications of the source at this time. While that number seems small, the number of infections doubled in the course of a week and the CDC and health officials in multiple states have been hard pressed to identify the source. While they’re narrowing the possibilities down—Salmonella has been found in condiment cups collected from restaurants where ill patients ate—there’s no definitive proof that would foster a recall or other preventative measures. One concern is that there could be more people infected than are known, further stymying the investigation into what the patients all have in common in terms of what they ate before getting sick. The highest number of victims are in Texas (81) and Oklahoma (40). While no one has died, there have been multiple hospitalizations. Urgent care clinicians should be suspicious for Salmonella in patients who present with diarrhea, vomiting, fever, stomach cramps, and dehydration, which can begin anywhere from 6 hours to 6 days after exposure to the bacteria.