Antibiotic resistant Salmonella outbreak in Arizona

Unknown food product blamed

At least 14 people in Arizona have been struck with a particularly powerful strain of _Salmonella_ with about half them needing hospital care, state health officials said. Workers inside the state health lab have been on the trail of the outbreak since late October 2007.

They are growing samples of the Salmonella spp. pathogenic bacteria taken from those people who have been ill from the pathogen to see if has the same genetic fingerprint (PFGE) as the kind of Salmonella spp. that's made people sick in California, Nevada, and Idaho, said Ken Komatsu, Arizona Department of Health Services epidemiologist.

"This particular strain has a fairly high rate of hospitalization," Komatsu said. "Half of our cases have been hospitalized."

The latest outbreak is showing another unusual characteristic. Komatsu said the ability of the strain to resist antibiotics may partly explain why so many people who are getting it need hospital care. It's also unusual because cases are more likely to occur in summer than late fall or winter.

Experts said they think the outbreak got started when many people bought and ate some kind of an yet unknown food product that was sold by a chain store. The product involved has not yet been identified.

Source: ProMED Rapporteur Brent Barrett

Aporte: Guillermo Figueroa