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At least 14 sickened by salmonella in Midlands
Source of Article: http://www.southwestiowanews.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=20270685&BRD=2703&PAG=461&dept_id=627131&rfi=6
Michael O'Connor, World Herald News Service
03/01/2009
A small outbreak of
salmonella poisoning has been confirmed in the Omaha
area and other parts of southeast Nebraska.
There have been 14 confirmed cases so far, and a state
health official expects that there will be more.
Dr. Tom Safranek, Nebraska state epidemiologist, said
Thursday that he believes the cases are connected because they were all
caused by the same strain of bacteria. He said there probably have been more
cases tied to the outbreak that were never confirmed.
The confirmed cases occurred between Feb. 2 and Feb. 13 and involved people
ranging in age from their teens to their 40s. Safranek
said he does not believe the cases are part of the national salmonella
outbreak tied to peanut products because those cases were caused by a
different strain.
Nebraska had
more than 200 confirmed cases of salmonella each of the past two years and
most were unrelated, he said.
The state does get several outbreaks per year and usually those cases can be
traced to a restaurant, church potluck or some other common source, Safranek said.
The recent outbreak is different, he said, because health officials so far
have not been able to trace the cases to a common source.
Eight of the cases were in Douglas County and the rest were in Sarpy, Cass and Lancaster Counties.
Two of the people were hospitalized but were released and have recovered.
None of the 14 cases resulted in serious complications, Safranek
said.
Salmonella symptoms typically begin with nausea and vomiting and progress to
abdominal pains and diarrhea. Additional signs and symptoms include fever,
chills and muscle pains, and they can last from several days to two weeks.
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