An Axtell Days Salmonella outbreak in Northern Kansas is being investigated by officials from the Marshall County Health Department and the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, according to news reports. Neither health department has information about this outbreak on their sites, although there is a survey about the event that has been posted by the Kansas DOHE.
That event took place from August 6 through August 9, 2026. Axtell is a small agricultural town in northeastern Kansas.
The health departments have not reported on the number of people sick, patient age range, illness onset dates, or whether or not anyone has been hospitalized. The Kansas Department of Health and Environment has posted a survey about the outbreak. They are asking what anyone who attended that event, whether they got sick or not, to fill it out to help narrow the scope of the investigation. All information that is submitted will be private and confidential.
Food poisoning outbreaks are not uncommon at festivals and fairs. In the last few years, a Salmonella Agbeni outbreak at the Brown County fair in Illinois in March 2026 was linked to contaminated ice in a beverage cooler. A Cryptosporidium outbreak at the New Mexico State Fair in 2023 sickened at least 18 people. And an outbreak at the Blue Ridge Rock Festival in Virginia in 2023 sickened dozens of attendees.
Symptoms of a Salmonella food poisoning infection can include a fever, headache, nausea, vomiting, stomach cramps, abdominal pain and cramps, and diarrhea that may be bloody. People usually start feeling ill six to 24 hours after contracting the infection, but it may take as long as a week for some people to get sick.
If you have questions about the outbreak, you can call the Marshall County Health Department at 785-562-3485 or the Kansas Department of Health and Environment epidemiology hotline at 877-427-7317.
If you attended that festival and have been ill, see your doctor. You may be part of this outbreak.
