From: <a href="/cgi-bin/wa?LOGON=A3%3Dind0807A%26L%3DSAFETY%26E%3D7bit%26P%3D25632%26B%3D--%26T%3Dtext%252Fplain%3B%2520charset%3DUS-ASCII" target="_parent" >[log in to unmask]</a>
Sent: Wednesday, June 25, 2008 12:48 PM
Subject: PRO/AH/EDR> Salmonellosis, serotype Saintpaul, tomatoes - USA  
(09)

SALMONELLOSIS, SEROTYPE SAINTPAUL, TOMATOES - USA (09)
******************************************************
A ProMED-mail post
<http://www.promedmail.org>
ProMED-mail is a program of the
International Society for Infectious Diseases
<http://www.isid.org>

Date: Tue 24 Jun 2008
Source: US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) [edited]
<http://www.cdc.gov/salmonella/saintpaul/>


Since April 2008, 652 persons infected with _Salmonella [enterica_
serotype] Saintpaul with the same genetic fingerprint have been
identified in 34 states and the District of Columbia. These were
identified because clinical laboratories in all states send strains
from ill persons to their State public health laboratory for
characterization. The increase in reported ill persons since the last
update is not thought to be due to a large number of new infections.
The number of reported ill persons increased mainly because some
states improved surveillance in response to this outbreak and because
laboratory identification of many previously submitted strains was
completed.

In particular, one new state, Nevada reported ill persons. The number
of ill persons identified in each state is as follows: Arkansas (3
persons), Arizona (34), California (8), Colorado (5), Connecticut
(4), Florida (1), Georgia (14), Idaho (3), Illinois (45), Indiana
(9), Kansas (9), Kentucky (1), Maryland (18), Massachusetts (14),
Michigan (4), Missouri (12), New Hampshire (1), Nevada (4), New
Jersey (4), New Mexico (79), New York (18), North Carolina (1), Ohio
(3), Oklahoma (17), Oregon (5), Pennsylvania (5), Rhode Island (2),
Tennessee (5), Texas (293), Utah (2), Virginia (21), Vermont (1),
Washington (1), Wisconsin (5), and the District of Columbia (1).

Among the 325 persons with information available, illnesses began
between 10 Apr 2008 and 13 Jun 2008. Patients range in age from less
than 1 to 99 years; 50 percent are female. At least 71 persons were
hospitalized. No deaths have been officially attributed to this
outbreak.

Only 3 persons infected with this strain of _S._ Saintpaul were
identified in the country during the same period in 2007. The
previous rarity of this strain and the distribution of illnesses in
all USA regions suggest that the implicated tomatoes are distributed
throughout much of the country. Because of inherent delays in
reporting and because many persons with salmonellosis do not have a
stool specimen tested, it is likely many more illnesses have occurred
than those reported. Some of these unreported illnesses may be in
states that are not on today's map [for map, see source URL. - Mod.LL]

--
Communicated by:
ProMED-mail
<<a href="/cgi-bin/wa?LOGON=A3%3Dind0807A%26L%3DSAFETY%26E%3D7bit%26P%3D25632%26B%3D--%26T%3Dtext%252Fplain%3B%2520charset%3DUS-ASCII" target="_parent" >[log in to unmask]</a>>

[One more state (Nevada) is now reported to be involved in the
outbreak and 39 more cases linked to the epidemic strain. The onset
of the latest case or cases is still 13 Jun 2008, 11 days after the
initial CDC report. This is the 1st time in this outbreak that CDC
reports have been released on consecutive days. - Mod.LL]