Seven more people are sick with Salmonella infections in the multistate outbreak linked to frozen raw tuna. Now at least 60 people are sick with the outbreak strain of Salmonella Paratyphi B variant L(+) tartrate(+) in eleven states. Eleven people have been hospitalized in this outbreak; no deaths are reported.
Most of the ill persons reported eating sushi made with raw tuna the week before they got sick. The Minnesota Department of Health isolated the outbreak strain of Salmonella from samples of unopened frozen raw tuna collected from a Minnesota grocery store. This product was imported from Indonesia.
The outbreak case count by state is: Arizona (11), California (34), Illinois (1), Michigan (1), Minnesota (2), Mississippi (1), New Mexico (6), South Dakota (1), Virginia (1), Washington (1), and Wisconsin (1). The new patients are from Arizona, California, Michigan, and Minnesota. Illness onset dates range from March 5, 2015 to June 30, 2015. The age range is from younger than 1 year to 83 years.
Of the 46 people interviewed about this outbreak, 43, or 93%, reported eating sushi the week before they got sick. This is much higher than a survey of healthy people, in which only 5% reported eating sushi made with raw fish. Of the 42 people who gave information about their sushi exposure, 41 reported eating a sushi item containing raw tuna, and 25 or 29 reported eating a sushi item containing raw “spicy tuna”.
The symptoms of a Salmonella infection include nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, diarrhea, fever, chills, headache, muscle pains, and blood in the stool. If you have eaten raw sushi made with tuna, or raw tuna made from frozen tuna and have experienced these symptoms, please see your doctor immediately.
