According to Melaney Arnold, spokesperson for the Illinois Department of Health, nine people in that state have been sickened in the nationwide Salmonella Bareilly outbreak. Two people have been hospitalized. The dates patients became ill range from February 11 to March 17, 2012.
The case breakdown is as follows:
- Six cases in Chicago
- Two in Will County
- One in suburban Cook County
Ms. Arnold told Food Poisoning Bulletin that there is no information on whether or not the hospitalized patients have been released.
Health officials in that state and all other states affected by the outbreak have been working with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the FDA to discover the source of the bacteria. Patients are being interviewed about what they ate before they became ill. According to the CDC, 51 patients have been interviewed so far.
Thirty-five of them, or 69%, consumed sushi, sashami, or a similar food product in the week before they became ill. That compares to 5% of the overall population that consumed those products.
However, a specific food has not been conclusively singled out, so consumers aren’t being told to avoid one specific product or restaurant.
