Still eating chicken? Is it worth dying for? Food Safety Multistate Outbreak of Multidrug-Resistant Salmonella Foster Farms brand chicken linked to outbreak October 9, 2013 Author: Caroline Smith DeWaal in: Food Safety An outbreak of multidrug-resistant Salmonella Heidelberg has sickened 278 people in 17 states, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Among those sickened, 42% have required hospitalization—almost twice the percentage that are typically hospitalized with a Salmonella outbreak, and 13% of cases have invasive infections. Multidrug-resistant infections can increase the risk of hospitalization, possible treatment failure, and death. What: A 17-state outbreak of multidrug-resistant Salmonella Heidelberg has sickened 278 people, and hospitalized 42% of those sickened. Illnesses are associated with contaminated Foster Farms chicken products produced at three of the company’s California facilities. CDC investigators have identified seven strains of Salmonella Heidelberg associated with this outbreak, of which four are rarely seen by the CDC. Those four rare strains have tested positive for antibiotic resistance, meaning that those bacteria are capable of causing an infection that is untreatable by some—if not multiple—antibiotics. Illnesses associated with this outbreak have been documented by the CDC from March 1 to September 24, 2013, and linked together as part of a single outbreak by using “DNA fingerprinting” PFGE technology. One of the strains of Salmonella fingerprinted was the same strain associated with a 2012-2013 outbreak, also due to contaminated Foster Farms brand chicken. E
Posted on: Wed, 09 Oct 2013 19:45:53 +0000