Colorado has twice as many salmonella cases as in a typical July, and state health officials are trying to figure out if sick people had a certain food or restaurant in common.
The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment reported 250 people had confirmed infections with salmonella bacteria as of Monday. Over the past five years, residents have averaged 125 cases in July, making this year an outlier.
The state’s public health laboratory is sequencing the genes of salmonella bacteria samples from people who test positive. If samples have similar genetic markers, that would suggest those people got sick from the same source.
People who have symptoms consistent with salmonella should talk to a health care provider about getting tested, the state health department said.
So far, most of the Colorado cases aren’t linked to a that sickened at least 98 people and hospitalized 26. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention listed one case in Colorado that appears to be part of the outbreak, which was caused by contaminated eggs.
Midwest Poultry Services, the apparent source of that outbreak, recalled more than 1.5 million eggs sold in cartons at grocery stores in Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico and Mississippi, .
Salmonella symptoms include diarrhea, fever, stomach cramps, nausea and vomiting. of eating something contaminated. Healthy people generally feel better in about 10 days, but people with compromised immune systems can develop complications if the bacteria spread to other parts of the body.
The U.S. is having a difficult summer for food-borne illnesses, with of sometimes “explosive” diarrhea linked to the cyclospora parasite in Michigan and surrounding states. Federal officials tentatively linked the outbreak to lettuce grown by Taylor Farms and sold at Taco Bell.
A appears unrelated to the first, but the FDA hasn’t determined a possible cause.
