Cilantro still looks suspicious, but NCIB dendrogram now says “mixed produce.”
Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, Oklahoma, Texas and Virginia hardest hit.
The CDC reports today that since the last update on September 23, 2021, 140 more people were added to this outbreak. As of September 29, 2021, 419 people infected with the outbreak strain of Salmonella Oranienburg have been reported from 35 states. Illnesses started on dates ranging from June 19, 2021, to September 14, 2021.
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The Monroe County Department of Public Health has determined norovirus is likely responsible for recent illnesses on Rochester Institute of Technology’s (RIT) Henrietta campus.
The vast majority of cases were resolved within 24-36 hours without medical treatment. However, some RIT students did need care in the Student Health Center, and a few received care in a local emergency department.
In response, the school has increased deep cleaning and sanitization efforts on high-touch surfaces in residence halls, dining areas, restrooms, and other spaces across campus.
Foodborne outbreak suspected to be caused by histamine in chilled mackerel in Sweden and Finland, origin unknown
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The rapidly expanding Salmonella Oranienburg outbreak has not yet been definitively solved by the FDA or CDC, but there are clues in the latest investigation information. On Friday, September 24, 2021, the CDC said that they found the outbreak strain in a takeout condiment cup that contained cilantro, onion, and lime. Is the Salmonella Oranienburg outbreak connected to onions or lime?
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As of August 28, 31 people have been confirmed infected with Salmonella Coeln. Whole genome sequencing (analysis of the bacterium’s genome) has shown that the disease cases carry the same strain of Salmonella Coeln and are thus suspected of having been infected by a common source of infection. The cases, which are aged 0-85 years (median = 28 years), are resident in twelve different regions in Sweden and 18 (58 percent) of the patients are men. Affected infection control units, municipalities and County Administrative Boards, together with the National Food Administration and the Swedish Public Health Agency, are investigating the outbreak to identify the source of infection that is suspected to be a food with a wide distribution in Sweden.
Figure. Disease curve for outbreak cases with Salmonella Coeln (n = 31), 2021-09-24. For cases marked in purple, information on the date of illness is missing and instead the sampling date has been specified.
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Laboratory testing has shown that norovirus is behind dozens of illnesses among students and staff at Georgetown University in Washington D.C.
University officials have been working with public health officials since Sept. 21 when about a dozen students reported symptoms consistent with foodborne illnesses, specifically norovirus.
“On Friday evening, our facilities team began deep cleaning and sanitizing of rooms of affected individuals and all common or shared spaces in our campus residential facilities. They have completed 46 student rooms and will be continuing cleaning throughout the day on Saturday (Sept. 25),” according to a statement from university officials.
A potential Famous Anthony’s hepatitis A outbreak in Roanoke, Virginia has sickened at least 10 people, according to news reports and the Roanoke City and Alleghany Health Districts. An employee who tested positive for the virus worked while infectious at three Famous Anthony’s restaurants that are located on Grandin Road, Williamson Road, and Crystal Spring Avenue in that city. All ten patients were hospitalized. Officials think the case count will increase.
The employee worked there between August 10 and August 26, 2021. That means that it is too late for anyone who was exposed there during that time frame to get the hepatitis A or immune globulin vaccine. The vaccine is only effective if given within two weeks of exposure.
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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported an additional 152 Salmonella Oranienburg infections in the multistate outbreak that was first reported earlier this month.
The outbreak, which totals 279 cases to date, has expanded to 29 states. 26 people required hospitalization for their illness, an increase of 8 over the past week.
Texas has reported the most cases with 81, followed by 40 in Oklahoma, 23 in Illinois and 22 in Virginia.
A specific food item has not yet been identified as the source of this outbreak. CDC and public health and regulatory officials in several states are collecting different types of data.
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The head of the territorial department of the Rospotrebnadzor Administration for the Republic of Tatarstan, Irina Khairullina said twelve botulism cases have been reported this year in the districts of Almetyevsky, Zainsky, Leninogorsky and Sarmanovsky. This compares with two botulism cases reported in the previous two years.
Khairullina notes, 10 people got sick while eating homemade smoked fish, while 2 people associate their disease with the consumption of smoked goose meat, bought from unknown persons in places of unauthorized trade.
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The New Jersey Department of Health (NJDOH) reported this week four cases of Legionnaires’ disease in Hamilton Township, Mercer County between May-August 2021, along with an additional reported case from November 2020.
State and local health officials continue to work closely to investigate these cases as part of a larger investigation, which was initiated in August 2020 following a reported cluster of four cases.
Hamilton Township reported two deaths in August 2020 and an additional death was reported late last month in an elderly township resident among the nine reported cases.
Legionnaires’ disease is a type of pneumonia that people can get after breathing in aerosolized water (small droplets of water in the air) containing Legionella bacteria. Symptoms of Legionnaires’ disease include cough, shortness of breath, fever, muscle aches, and headaches which are similar to symptoms caused by other respiratory infections, including COVID-19.
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