Salmonella Poisoning
Two visiting Wasco County commissioners were poisoned with glasses of water containing salmonella bacteria during a visit to Rajneeshpuram on August 29, 1984. Both men fell ill as a result, and one was hospitalized. Afterward, members of Sheela's team spread salmonella on produce in grocery stores and on doorknobs and urinal handles in the county courthouse, but this did not produce the desired effects. In September and October 1984, they contaminated the salad bars of 10 local restaurants with salmonella, infecting 751 people. Forty-five people received hospital treatment; all survived.
The primary delivery tactic involved one member concealing a plastic bag containing a light brown liquid with the salmonella bacteria, and either spreading it over the food at a salad bar, or pouring its contents into salad dressing. The perpetrators referred to the contaminated liquid as "salsa". By September 24, 1984, more than 150 people were violently ill. By the end of September, 751 cases of acute gastroenteritis were documented; lab results showed that all of the victims were infected with Salmonella enterica Typhimurium. Symptoms included diarrhea, fever, chills, nausea, vomiting, headaches, abdominal pain, and bloody stools. Victims ranged in age from an infant, born two days after his mother's infection and initially given a five-percent chance of survival, to an 87-year-old.
Local residents suspected that Rajneesh's followers were behind the poisonings, and turned out in droves on election day to prevent the organization from winning any county positions, thus rendering the terrorist plot unsuccessful. The Rajneeshees eventually withdrew their candidate from the November 1984 ballot. Only 239 of the commune's 7,000 residents voted. The outbreak cost local restaurants hundreds of thousands of dollars and health officials shut down the salad bars of the affected establishments. Some residents would not go out alone out of fear of further attacks. One resident stated: "People were so horrified and scared. People wouldn't go out, they wouldn't go out alone. People were becoming prisoners."
Read more about this topic: 1984 Rajneeshee Bioterror Attack
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