While most outbreaks of foodborne illness peak and recede, one southern Michigan restaurant struggled with an intermittent Salmonella outbreak for more than a decade.
From September 2008 to July 2019, there were 35 primary cases and one secondary case of Salmonella Mbandaka ultimately traced to the restaurant by the local public health department, William Nettleton, MD, medical director of the Kalamazoo County Health and Community Services Department, and colleagues reported in the August 20 issue of Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
The unusual persistence of the outbreak was due to a complex interplay between the restaurant environment and asymptomatic food workers, Nettleton told MedPage Today.
“It was very challenging to identify the source of the outbreak,” he said in an interview. “Typically with Salmonella or other types of enteropathogens, there’s a foodborne vehicle. People get sick over a period of days to weeks, and once the source is eliminated, people stop getting sick. You get the traditional bell curve.”
“This was different,” he said. “The sporadic incidence made it very challenging.”
The restaurant initially made it on the county health department’s radar in 2012, when the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services sounded an alarm about Salmonella Mbandaka cases occurring intermittently in the county since 2008.
Kalamazoo health officials at the time launched a hypothesis-generating questionnaire, and by 2014 they’d homed their sights on the restaurant in question, after five known cases reported a meal there.
Top Quality Dog Food of Hyattsville, MD is recalling “Beef HVM” 1-pound packages due to the potential of Salmonella spp., Listeria monocytogenes. Salmonella, Listeria, can affect animals eating the product and there is risk to humans handling contaminated products, especially if they have not thoroughly washed their hands after having contact with the products or any surfaces exposed to these products.
Healthy people infected with Salmonella should monitor themselves for the following symptoms: nausea, vomiting, diarrhea or bloody diarrhea, abdominal cramping, and fever. Rarely, Salmonella can result in more serious ailments, including arterial infections, endocarditis, arthritis, muscle pain, eye irritation, and urinary tract symptoms. Pets with Salmonella infections may be lethargic and have diarrhea or bloody diarrhea, fever, and vomiting. Some pets will have only decreased appetite, fever, and abdominal pain. Infected but otherwise healthy pets can be carriers and infect other animals or humans. If your pet has consumed the recalled product and has these symptoms, please contact your veterinarian.
Listeria monocytogenes can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, vulnerable or elderly people, and others with compromised immune systems. Healthy people may suffer short-term symptoms such as fever, headaches, stiffness, abdominal pain, and diarrhea. Listeria monocytogenes infections pose a serious threat to pregnant woman, as it can lead to miscarriages and stillbirths. Listeria monocytogenes infections are uncommon in pets, but they are possible. Symptoms may include mild to severe diarrhea; anorexia; fever; nervous, muscular, and respiratory signs; abortion; depression; shock; and death. Healthy people should monitor themselves and their pets for symptoms.
The recalled “Beef HVM” was distributed in DC, MD, VA, DE, PA, MA, CT, and SC and product was distributed through mail order and direct delivery from 7/27/21 to 8/2/21. The “Beef HVM” comes in a 1-pound package marked with lot #071521 on the bottom right corner of the label.
No illnesses have been reported to date in connection with the “Beef HVM” 1-pound packages in question.
The contamination was noted after a state surveillance sample revealed the presence of Salmonella, Listeria monocytogenes, in some 1-pound. packages of Beef HVM. The remaining “Beef HVM” batch in our possession has been quarantined and we have discontinued the distribution of this batch while FDA and our company continue their investigation as to the source of the contamination.
We have already contacted those who have received this lot number based on our records. We encourage all customers who received this product to dispose of any unused product immediately.
If you find the “Beef HVM” 1-pound package that shows the lot number: 071521 in your possession, we urge you to return it to the place of purchase for a full refund.
More than two dozen boys were reportedly taken to hospitals in Rockland County, the Catskills and Brooklyn after they apparently suffered food poisoning while returning from a trip to Ukraine.
The boys, all in their upper teens, were nauseous, vomiting and feverish, among other reactions, after landing at an unidentified New York City airport, responders said.
They apparently had been eating tuna sandwiches before their flight and began feeling ill during the journey, according to unconfirmed reports.
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