The Laboratory of Gastrointestinal Pathogens (LGP) has reported 49 non-travel associated, fully sensitive cases of Salmonella Poona with specimen dates on or after 24 October 2011 to 19 March 2012. This compares with 21 and 33 cases reported during the whole of 2009 and 2010 respectively. Those affected range from four months to 88 years of age with 65% of all cases aged over 60 years and a median age of 69.5 years; men and women are similarly affected.
Cases have been found across England and Wales, with most cases occurring in the South West (28%), South East (16%) and Wales (14%) regions. So far, no cases have been reported in London and the East Midlands and 14 cases have received treatment in hospital.
The Salmonella Poona isolates from 41 of the cases have been further typed by pulsed field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) and all but one has the same PFGE profile XB.0003. This strain is indistinguishable from a strain seen in an outbreak in Sweden in 2010; however, a source was not been confirmed for that outbreak.
Salmonella enterica serovar Poona causes gastro-enteritis in humans through the consumption of contaminated food. In humans chronic carriage is rare and so cases of Salmonella Poona should be excluded from work, school and other institutional settings for 48 hours after first normal stools and will not require microbiological clearance [1].
Following the increase in cases, an Outbreak Control Team comprising representatives from the South West, Wales and South East regions, and from HPA Colindale’s Gastrointestinal, Emerging and Zoonotic Infections group (GEZI), is investigating.
Reference
1. Preventing person-to-person spread following gastrointestinal infections: guidelines for public health physicians and environmental health officers. Communicable Disease and Public Health 7(4), December 2004, pp362.
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