Two More States Affected By Salmonella Outbreak

We can add Maryland and North Carolina to the list of states that have confirmed at least one victim of the Salmonella Saintpaul outbreak. That brings the number of states to 26.

The Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene has identified one case of Salmonella Saintpaul, and has confirmed that the microbe, which they isolated from a Baltimore patient, matches the molecular fingerprint of the outbreak strain.

The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services also has reported a single case of salmonellosis that is linked to the tomato outbreak. The North Carolina victim became ill last month after traveling to Texas – one of the hardest-hit states.

In addition, the New York State Department of Health is now reporting two confirmed cases of Salmonella Saintpaul infection, an increase of one case since the last CDC investigation update of June 12th.

These new cases bring the total number of lab-confirmed victims of this outbreak to 232 as of this morning. Based on CDC estimates that, on average, only one case of Salmonella infection in 38 is ever reported, roughly 8,800 people have been infected by the outbreak strain of Salmonella Saintpaul so far.

And FDA is still trying to figure out where the contaminated tomatoes originated.