Nine people in Virginia are sick in the Moby Dick House of Kabob Salmonella outbreak, according to Julie Henderson, Director, Division of Food and General Environmental Services of the Virginia Department of Health. This number is in addition to the 23 sick in Maryland. Those nine Virginia patients are all adults. Eight of the patients were not hospitalized, and hospitalization “was not confirmed” for the ninth. The last illness onset date was September 19, 2019.
This outbreak was first discovered in Maryland in September, when nine people were diagnosed with Salmonella infections. At first, public health officials blamed hummus served at and sold from the restaurant for the illnesses. Some doubt was cast on that food being responsible in the press, but the Maryland Department of Health told Food Poisoning Bulletin in an email that hummus is not excluded in the search for a source of contamination.
The problem with investigating illnesses and outbreaks associated with restaurants is that food is typically not stored in those venues for a long time. It’s quite possible that some contaminated food was served during a short time period, and then discarded, so there is nothing to test.
In the first outbreak report, eight of the nine sickened in Maryland did eat hummus served at Moby Dick House of Kabob, which is statistically significant.
You can contact food safety attorney Fred Pritzker for help by calling 1-888-377-8900 or 612-338-0202.
Food safety attorney Fred Pritzker, who has represented many clients sickened with Salmonella infections after eating at restaurants, said, “epidemiologic evidence is quite reliable, even if no food can be tested for pathogens. No one should get sick because they ate dinner at a restaurant.”
Symptoms of Salmonella food poisoning can include a fever, nausea, vomiting, stomach and abdominal pain, and diarrhea that may be bloody. People usually start to feel sick 12 to 72 hour after eating food that is contaminated with the pathogen.
If you ate any of the chain’s restaurants and have been experiencing these symptoms, see your doctor. You may be part of this Moby Dick House of Kabob Salmonella outbreak. Most people do recover on their own with no medical treatment, but this infection can have lifelong consequences, including reactive arthritis, irritable bowel syndrome, and high blood pressure.
