International Notes
Outbreak of Salmonella oranienburg Infection -- Norway
From November 1981 to September 1982, 126 bacteriologically
confirmed cases of Salmonella oranienburg infection were reported
through the national reporting system of infectious diseases.
Nearly
all the infections were contracted in Norway.
S. oranienburg infections are usually rare in Norway; the
average
number recorded from 1975 to 1980 was less than four per year.
Practically all these cases were contracted abroad by children less
than 1 year of age coming from east Asian countries. The current
outbreak has spread throughout most parts of Norway, clustering in
the
southeastern, central, and southwestern sections. Only six of 18
counties reported no cases. Only a few cases were reported from
the
two largest cities, Oslo and Bergen.
The number of cases recorded per week and per month was fairly
constant throughout the period. The age distribution shows that
approximately 85% of patients were more than 25 years of age (Table
3). Approximately 1/4-1/2 of the patients reported have been
hospitalized, some with septicemia.
Since June-July this year, health authorities, in cooperation
with
the Food Control Laboratories, have strengthened their efforts to
trace the sources of the outbreak. On August 27, the Food Control
Laboratory in Trondelag succeeded in isolating S. oranienburg from
a
home-made cured meat product in a household where a female had S.
oranienburg infection. When the different ingredients used in
preparing this meat product were examined, S. oranienburg was
isolated
from a pepper box. This pepper had been bought in a nearby store
belonging to a nation-wide food distribution firm. Eventually, the
same laboratory succeeded in isolating S. oranienburg from six
unopened pepper boxes and pepper bags obtained from different
households with S. oranienburg cases and from different stores
belonging to the food chain. The contaminated black pepper seems
to
be restricted to two different consignments imported from Brazil
via
the Federal Republic of Germany in April and August 1981.
Other brands of pepper from other importers have been
extensively
examined but have failed to reveal any positive Salmonella
isolates.
Further studies are in progress to clarify how the pepper
contamination could have occurred.
Reported by WHO Weekly Epidemiological Record 1982;57:329-30.
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