Last year alone, Salmonella caused nearly 2,300 hospitalizations and 29 deaths. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention tracks nine food borne illnesses and salmonella cases are up 10% over a 15 year period according to a new report released by the organization. E. coli is down. The rate of reported cases of E. coli O157 was two cases per 100,000 people in 1997 and, by 2010, had decreased to 0.9 cases per 100,000 people.
The CDC credits the reduction in E. coli to better detection and investigation of outbreaks, increased awareness by consumers and restaurants on the importance of properly cooking beef, and more regulation and testing of meat.
Last year, eggs tainted with Salmonella may have sickened as many as 56,000, the CDC estimated. Those cases probably contributed to the 2010 increase, said Dr. Christopher Braden, a CDC epidemiologist.
Salmonella is a pesky gram-negative, rod-shaped bacilli that can cause diarrheal illness in humans. They are microscopic living creatures that pass from the feces of people or animals to other people or other animals.
CDC director Dr. Thomas Frieden said:
“Although food borne infections have decreased by nearly one-fourth in the past 15 years, more than 1 million people in this country become ill from salmonella each year.”
Although anyone can get a Salmonella infection, older adults, infants, and people with impaired immune systems are at increased risk for serious illness. In these people, a relatively small number of Salmonella bacteria can cause severe illness.
Food poisoning was up too. More than 19,000 cases of food poisoning were reported in the last year, up from 17,500 in 2009 and 18,500 in 2008, the CDC said.
Other food borne illnesses such as vibrio, which are associated with shellfish, also increased in the U.S. There were just under 200 vibrio cases reported in 2010, more than double the numbers seen in the 1990s.
The Salmonella family includes over 2,300 serotypes of bacteria which are one-celled organisms too small to be seen without a microscope. Two serotypes, Salmonella Enteritidis and Salmonella Typhimurium are the most common in the United States and account for half of all human infections. Strains that cause no symptoms in animals can make people sick, and vice versa. If present in food, it does not usually affect the taste, smell, or appearance of the food. The bacteria live in the intestinal tracts of infected animals and humans.
Although in some people salmonellosis could be asymptomatic, most people experience diarrhea, abdominal cramps, and fever within 8 to 72 hours after the contaminated food was eaten.
Additional symptoms may be chills, headache, nausea, and vomiting. Symptoms usually disappear within 4 to 7 days.
Europe is currently going through its own E. coli woes. The outbreak, of a newly identified and especially virulent strain of the E. coli bacterium has killed 23 people, all either in, or recently returned from, northern Germany, according to figures compiled by the European Centre for Disease Control.
More than 4,200 people have become ill, almost 700 of whom have developed haemolytic uraemic syndrome, a serious complication that affects the blood, kidneys and nervous system.
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Written by Sy Kraft