Between March 22, and April 8, 1985, over 1,500
culture-confirmed
cases of salmonellosis in northern Illinois have been reported to
the
Illinois Department of Public Health. Investigations have linked
the
outbreak to 2% pasteurized milk ("Blue Brook" brand) from one
processing plant. Salmonella typhimurium, resistant to ampicillin
and
tetracycline, has been isolated from patients and from milk in
unopened cartons. The dairy stopped producing milk April 9, and
investigations by local, state, and federal officials are
continuing.
Reported by local Illinois health departments, Illinois Dept of
Public
Health; Enteric Diseases Br, Div of Bacterial Diseases, Center for
Infectious Diseases, CDC; US Food and Drug Administration.
Editorial Note
Editorial Note: Pasteurized milk constitutes approximately 99% of
all
(cow) milk consumed in the United States, but milk-borne outbreaks
of
Salmonella investigated by CDC in the past have almost always
involved
raw milk because effective pasteurization kills Salmonella. The
large
number of affected persons in this outbreak illustrates how a
widely
consumed product, once contaminated, can result in many cases.
Similar widespread transmission of Salmonella occurred in a
waterborne
outbreak involving an estimated 16,000 people (100 reported cases)
in
Riverside, California, in 1965 (1) and in an estimated 3,400
affected
Navajo Indians (105 investigated cases) at a barbecue on a
reservation
in 1974 (2).
References
Aserkoff B, Schroeder SA, Brachman PS. Salmonellosis in the
United States--a five-year review. Am J Epidemiol
1970;92:13-24.
Horwitz MA, Pollard RA, Merson MH, Martin SM. A large outbreak
of
foodborne salmonellosis on the Navajo Nation Indian
Reservation,
epidemiology and secondary transmission. Am J Public Health
1977;67:1071-6.
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