A Salmonella outbreak linked to cucumbers imported from Mexico that sickened 84 people in 2013 ended one year ago. The outbreak, which began in January 2013 and ended in April 2013 sickened 84 people in 18 states. Seventeen people were hospitalized.
Although about 1.3 million Americans contract Salmonella infections every year, the outbreak strain of Salmonella Saintpaul was one rarely seen in the U.S. with less than five cases reported annually.
Symptoms of a Salmonella infection, which include fever, diarrhea, and vomiting can last up to 10 days. But long-term health problems, such as reactive arthritis, inflammation of the heart, spine, tendons and eye membranes can also stem from these infections.
Public health investigators, who used pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) to find the genetic “fingerprint”of the bacterial strain, linked the outbreak to cucumbers grown by Daniel Cardenas Izabal and Miracle Greenhouse of Culiacán, Mexico and distributed by Tricar Sales, Inc. of Rio Rico, Arizona. Both suppliers were then placed on import alert, meaning their cucumbers would be denied admission to the U.S. until they could show the product was not contaminated with Salmonella.
Those who contracted salmonellosis from the cucumbers ranged in age from less than one year old to 84 years old, the median age was 27. Most of those sickened, 62 percent were female. The case count by state was as follows: Arizona (11), California (29), Colorado (2), Idaho (2), Illinois (3), Louisiana (1), Maryland (1), Massachusetts (1), Minnesota (9), Nevada (1), New Mexico (2), North Carolina (3), Ohio (3), Oregon (2), South Dakota (2), Texas (7), Virginia (3), and Wisconsin (2).
