2008 United States Salmonellosis Outbreak - Salmonellosis

Salmonellosis

From April 10 to July 31, 2008, the rare Saintpaul serotype of Salmonella enterica caused at least 1329 cases of salmonellosis food poisoning in 43 states throughout the United States and in the District of Columbia. It was the largest reported salmonellosis outbreak in the United States since 1985. New Mexico and Texas were proportionally the hardest hit, with 56.9 and 21.3 reported cases per million, respectively. The greatest number of reported cases have occurred in Texas (508 reported cases), New Mexico (112), Illinois (116), and Arizona (57). Some other significantly impacted states include Maryland, Oklahoma, Kansas, Arkansas, and Nevada which have been collectively affected by 118 reported cases. All of the above-mentioned states suffered more than five reported cases per million. Additionally, five cases were reported in residents of Canada, four of whom appeared to have been infected after traveling to the United States.

There were at least 257 reported hospitalizations linked to the outbreak, leading to at least one death, and the outbreak may have been a contributing factor in at least one additional death. The CDC maintains that "it is likely many more illnesses have occurred than those reported." If applying a previous CDC estimated ratio of non-reported salmonellosis cases to reported cases (38.6:1), one would arrive at an estimated 52,826 illnesses from this outbreak, and 173 estimated cases per million throughout the United States.