Health Law

Coburn's karma: Salmonella outbreak in Oklahoma

By Drew Falkenstein

As if on cue, the lone human being standing in the way of the first meaningful change in food safety laws in decades, Senator Tom Coburn, will have a Salmonella outbreak to confront when he gets back home to Oklahoma during the legislative recess (the Senate's legislative session ended today).  KOCO.com reports:

School officials in Mustang [Oklahoma] are working with the Oklahoma state Department of Health to investigate an outbreak of salmonella among schoolkids in Canadian County.

Health officials are conducting interviews with parents in the area to determine eating habits among kids for the purpose of pinpointing possible sources of the outbreak.

Epidemiologist Laurie Smithee of the Oklahoma Department of Health said there were 10 confirmed cases among children in Mustang, two cases in Oklahoma County and one case in Carter County. The three cases outside of Mustang were all confirmed among adults.

She said the organism was genetically matched, which leads investigators to believe that the cases are connected. State investigators are questioning parents of ill and healthy children in Mustang to look for common connections.

Smithee said the case appears to have started between Sept. 2 and Sept. 13 and are looking for a possible food item that may be responsible.

Smithee said the cases involved children at Centennial, Lakehoma, Mustang Valley elementary schools and the city's pre-Kindergarten school.

Maybe good Oklahomans will put in a few calls to their Senator in the wake of this, yet another, Salmonella outbreak. 

Full post as published by Food Poison Blog on September 30, 2010 (boomark / email).