Tomatoes Responsible For Salmonella Outbreak In U.S.

Health authorities in the United States have started investigating an outbreak of Salmonella food poisoning in nine states. According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Roma and other large-sized tomatoes are responsible for spreading potentially deadly salmonella poisoning.

Although the tomatoes in question have not been recalled, the CDC warned consumers to avoid eating raw tomatoes in order to lower their risk of salmonella infection.

Since late April, SaintPaul, an uncommon type of Salmonella bacteria, has sickened at least 57 people in two of the states, Texas and New Mexico, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said.

About 30 more people have been infected with the SaintPaul strain of the disease in Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas and Utah. Health authorities said they are looking into the matter closely to see if the outbreaks are linked.

According to CDC epidemiologist Casey Barton Behravesh, at least 17 people have been hospitalized in Texas and New Mexico, and no deaths have been reported so far in any states affected by the tainted tomatoes.

"We're watching for cases across the country," Barton Behravesh said. "Our preliminary data is showing that the people who became sick in New Mexico and Texas ate raw tomatoes, and that's their likely source of this illness."

"The investigation in the other states is ongoing right now. We are definitely looking into their tomato exposures as well as other exposures to try to determine if they're linked with this outbreak in New Mexico and Texas," she added.

The US health watchdog said that experts are probing the specific type and source of tomatoes, but the preliminary data suggest that raw red plum, red Roma, or round red tomatoes are the cause.

The health department warned consumers against eating uncooked Roma tomatoes and larger round tomatoes. Cherry tomatoes, grape tomatoes, smaller round tomatoes sold attached to the vine and homegrown tomatoes were exempted from the alert.

Salmonella is a kind of rod-shaped Gram-negative enterobacteria that causes typhoid fever, paratyphoid fever and food-borne illnesses like bloody diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, and abdominal pain. It can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, weak or aged people, and others with deteriorated immune systems.

The illness lasts four to seven days and most people recover without treatment.

There are nearly 2,500 kinds of salmonella. The type in the recent outbreak was salmonella SaintPaul, which is an uncommon bacteria. Salmonella outbreaks take place in tomatoes periodically. A 2004 outbreak that sickened more than 400 people was linked to tomatoes sold in Sheetz convenience stores.