A vague notice about a food poisoning outbreak in San Antonio, Texas, was posted by the City of San Antonio Metropolitan Health District on December 20, 2016. People got sick after attending an event sponsored by the Education Investment Foundation for San Antonio Housing Authority (SAHA) residents.
The statement reads, in its entirety, “The San Antonio Metropolitan Health District (Metro Health) is investigating an illness occurring in individuals that attended an event sponsored by the Education Investment Foundation for San Antonio Housing Authority (SAHA) residents. Metro Health is conducting an epidemiological public health investigation of a cluster of individuals becoming ill after attending the event. Metro Health has been working with SAHA on the preliminary investigation and will continue to investigate the situation and will take additional measures as appropriate.”
There is no mention of how many people attended the event, how many were sickened, or what their symptoms were. Symptoms can give clues to the type of pathogen that caused the illnesses.
News reports covering this outbreak have more information. KSAT.com reports that about 1,000 people attended the 19th Annual Golden Gala at Freeman Coliseum, hosted by the Education Investment Foundation. That report also states that at least 50 people got sick quickly after eating the dinner. Most people got better within a few days, but several people were apparently hospitalized in this outbreak.
We will keep you updated on this outbreak as more news becomes available.
