UK: Salmonella outbreak kills 70-year-old woman
An outbreak of salmonella across the country has claimed
its first victim, after a pensioner died from the infection.
By Kate Devlin Medical
Correspondent
07 Aug 2008
Source of Article: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/2517490/Salmonella-outbreak-kills-70-year-old-woman.html
The bacteria contributed to the
death of a women in her 70s from
Investigators are considering
whether the outbreak, which has led to more than 100 confirmed cases, could be
linked to ready made sandwiches, although the Health Protection Agency (HPA)
insist that they are looking at all possibilities.
There have been 114 cases of the
infection so far, affecting all ages ranging from a 94-year-old to an
eight-month-old baby.
The woman, the first known to
have died as a result of the outbreak, had been a patient at the
She died on July 16, a few days
after she was released home.
Her local healthcare trust and
the HPA are now investigating how she contracted the bacteria and if it was linked
to anything she ate while in hospital.
Environmental Health Officers
have performed a spot check on the hospital's catering facilities since the
death was reported and found no areas of concern.
Tests confirmed that the patient
had a type of salmonella bacteria, salmonella agona, that has become
increasingly common in
Salmonella causes vomiting, diarrhoea and fever, which can last for between three and
seven days.
It can be passed from person to
person but the infection is contracted mainly from meat, poultry, raw eggs and
dairy products, or from undercooked contaminated food.
In
_______________________________________________________
Copyright (C) All rights reserved
under FoodHACCP.com
If
you have any comments, please send your
email to info@foodhaccp.com
