Epidemiologic Notes and Reports Update: Milk-borne
Salmonellosis -- Illinois
The number of culture-confirmed cases of salmonellosis reported
to
the Illinois Department of Public Health during the outbreak of
milk-borne salmonellosis reported last week (1) reached 5,770 on
April
16. Fifty-eight percent of the first 765 cases occurred among
persons
under 10 years of age. Salmonella typhimurium has been isolated
from
unopened containers of two lots of milk: Bluebrook 2% milk, dated
March 29 and produced March 20, and Hill Farm 2% milk, dated April
8
and produced March 30. Both lots were from the same dairy plant in
Illinois, which stopped producing milk April 9. The milk was sold
in
Jewel, Eisner, and Magna supermarkets in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa,
and
Michigan. All milk produced by the plant has been removed from
sale.
Although the plant produces milk with several different
concentrations
of butterfat, thus far only 2% milk has been strongly implicated.
Investigations of the plant by state, federal, and industry
officials
are continuing to determine the precise cause of the contamination
of
the milk.
By April 16, the Illinois Department of Public Health had
received
reports of milk-associated, culture-confirmed cases of
salmonellosis
from the three other states where the milk was distributed--Indiana
(289 cases), Michigan (43), and Iowa (28). In addition, three
state
health departments (Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Florida) have
reported a
total of 19 cases among persons returning to their states.
Reported by local Illinois health departments, Illinois Dept of
Public
Health; Enteric Diseases Br, Div of Bacterial Diseases, Center for
Infectious Diseases, CDC; US Food and Drug Administration.
Editorial Note
Editorial Note: This is the largest number of culture-confirmed
cases
ever associated with a single outbreak of salmonellosis in the
United
States. Although Salmonella is sometimes found in dairy cattle and
in
raw milk (2), pasteurization kills Salmonella. The implicated milk
underwent the pasteurization process, suggesting that it was either
inadequately pasteurized or contaminated after pasteurization.
Marth EH. Salmonellae and salmonellosis associated with milk
and
milk products. A review. J Dairy Sci 1969;52:283-315.
Disclaimer
All MMWR HTML documents published before January 1993 are electronic conversions from ASCII text into HTML. This conversion may have resulted in character translation or format errors in the HTML version. Users should not rely on this HTML document, but are referred to the original MMWR paper copy for the official text, figures, and tables. An original paper copy of this issue can be obtained from the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO), Washington, DC 20402-9371; telephone: (202) 512-1800. Contact GPO for current prices.
**Questions or messages regarding errors in formatting should be addressed to mmwrq@cdc.gov.
