Personal Injury Law

922 Confirmed Cases; 40 States & District of Columbia; Onset Date Marches Forward To June 25th: Outbreak Still Winning

By Marler Clark LLP

Another day, another 35 confirmed cases of Salmonella Saintpaul and Iowa and Louisiana have joined the oubreak.  That brings the ground being covered by this outbreak to 40 states and the District of Columbia.  Plus, Canada has confirmed one of its citizens is also a Salmonella Saintpaul victim after getting back from the USA.  And the most recent date for someone getting sick advanced to June 25th.

Here from the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention are today's numbers and the other various details:

Cases infected with the outbreak strain of Salmonella Saintpaul, United States, by state, as of July 2, 2008 9pm EDT

Since April, 922 persons infected with Salmonella Saintpaul with the same genetic fingerprint have been identified in 40 states and the District of Columbia. These were identified because clinical laboratories in all states send Salmonella strains from ill persons to their State public health laboratory for characterization.

Two new states, Iowa and Louisiana, report ill persons. The number of ill persons identified in each state is as follows: Alabama (2 persons), Arkansas (10), Arizona (45), California (8), Colorado (12), Connecticut (4), Florida (1), Georgia (22), Idaho (4), Illinois (91), Indiana (14), Iowa (2), Kansas (17), Kentucky (1), Louisiana (1), Maine (1), Maryland (29), Massachusetts (22), Michigan (7), Minnesota (2), Missouri (12), New Hampshire (4), Nevada (11), New Jersey (6), New Mexico (95), New York (26), North Carolina (10), Ohio (7), Oklahoma (23), Oregon (10), Pennsylvania (8), Rhode Island (3), South Carolina (1), Tennessee (7), Texas (356), Utah (2), Virginia (29), Vermont (2), Washington (4), Wisconsin (10), and the District of Columbia (1).

Among the 627 persons with information available, illnesses began between April 10 and June 25, 2008, including 210 who became ill on June 1 or later. Many steps must occur between a person becoming ill and the determination that the illness was caused by the outbreak strain of Salmonella; these steps take an average of 2-3 weeks.

Therefore, an illness reported today may have begun 2-3 weeks ago. Patients range in age from <1 to 99 years; 49 percent are female. The rate of illness is highest among persons 20 to 29 years old; the rate of illness is lowest in children 10 to 19 years old and in persons 80 or more years old. At least 111 persons were hospitalized. One death in a man in Texas in his eighties has been associated with this outbreak. In addition, a man in his sixties who died in Texas from cancer had an infection with the outbreak strain of Salmonella Saintpaul at the time of his death; the infection may have contributed to his death.

Full post as published by Salmonella Blog on July 03, 2008 (boomark / email).