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Multistate Salmonella Outbreak Linked to Indiana Cantaloupes

2 dead in Kentucky; 141 ill nationwide; 31 hospitalized

Food Safety News

by James Andrews | Aug 17, 2012

A multistate outbreak of Salmonella Typhimurium linked to cantaloupes grown in southwestern Indiana has killed two people in Kentucky and sickened 141 people nationwide, the Kentucky Department for Public Health and the Indiana State Department of Health have confirmed to Food Safety News.

31 people have been hospitalized, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

A total of 20 states have been affected by the outbreak, FDA reports. Illnesses by state are as follows: Alabama (7), Arkansas (3), California, (2), Georgia (1), Illinois (17), Indiana (13), Iowa (7), Kentucky (50), Michigan (6), Minnesota (3), Missouri (9), Mississippi (2), New Jersey (1), North Carolina (3), Ohio (3), Pennsylvania (2), South Carolina (3), Tennessee (6), Texas (1) and Wisconsin (2).

Illnesses began in early July, with new cases still likely to be reported in the coming weeks.

The 22 percent victim hospitalization rate (31 out of 141) is unusually high for Salmonella. The CDC estimates that of the over 1 million people sickened by Salmonella in the U.S. each year, about 1.9 percent are hospitalized.

August 22, 2012, food safety advocates called on health officials to release the name of the southwestern Indiana farm that recalled its cantaloupes amid a Salmonella outbreak. Barbara Kowalcyk, chief executive officer of the Center for Foodborne Illness Research & Prevention, said health officials are careful not to point fingers early in investigations of foodborne illnesses because they don't want to hurt farms, food manufacturers or others who may later turn out to have no role in an outbreak.

Continue reading, "Multistate Salmonella Outbreak Linked to Indiana Cantaloupes" at Food Safety News.

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