Investigating an Outbreak of Salmonella
U.S. health officials investigated an outbreak of salmonella that has affected 40 people in Texas and New Mexico and could have spread to seven other states, today reported the Health Department.
The cause could be some tomatoes that have been eaten raw.
At least 17 of the 40 affected people have been hospitalized in both states, although no fatalities, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
As the first tests, the caseload caused by one type of virus and most patients said they reached the respective hospitals who had eaten raw tomatoes purchased at stores or served in a restaurant.
The CDC now analyzes the cases of 30 other people who became ill from salmonella in Arizona, Utah, Colorado, Kansas, Idaho, Illinois and Indiana.
Researchers of this study center if the virus comes from the same strain as that of Texas and New Mexico and if the tomatoes would be the cause of infection in these cases.
Salmonellosis is an infection that is spread by a bacterium, usually through some bad food and causes diarrhea, abdominal pain and fever within 12 to 72 hours after getting it.