Salmonella Heidelberg Outbreak and Ground Turkey
Our attorneys are investigating a Salmonella Heidelberg outbreak that has been associated with ground turkey. At least 77 people in 26 states have laboratory-confirmed cases of Salmonella Heidelberg linked through an epidemiologic investigation and PFGE (DNA) analyses. Others may also be part of this outbreak. At least 22 people have been hospitalized, and one person has died.
Salmonella Heidelberg strains are often associated with food poisoning and show higher rates of resistance to multiple antimicrobial agents. One study found1:
One hundred eighty S. enterica serovar Heidelberg isolates,collected from turkey-associated production and processing sources,were tested for antimicrobial susceptibility, and compared bypulsed field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) and plasmid profileanalysis. The potential for the transfer of resistance betweenstrains was studied by conjugation experiments. XbaI-digestedPFGE analysis identified eight clusters (based on an 90% similarity),with the largest containing 71% of the isolates. Forty-two percentof the isolates were resistant to at least one of the 15 antimicrobialagents tested and 4% of the isolates were resistant to eightor more antimicrobial agents. Resistance was most commonly detectedto streptomycin (32%), tetracycline (30%) and kanamycin (24%).Interestingly, the XbaI PFGE profiles of selective multidrugresistant strains (n=22) of S. enterica serovar Heidelberg fromturkey-associated sources were indistinguishable from the predominantprofile (JF6X01.0022), detected in isolates associated withhuman infections. These isolates were further differentiatedinto seven distinct profiles following digestion with BlnI enzyme,with the largest cluster compromising of 15 isolates from veterinarydiagnostic and turkey processing environments. Conjugation experimentsindicated that resistance to multiple antimicrobial agents wastransferable among strains with diverse PFGE profiles.
Salmonella Heidelberg food poisoning causes an infection called salmonellosis. This can cause gastroenteritis and serious illness. In some cases, salmonellosis can develop into bacteremia, an infection of the blood. When this happens, the Salmonella bacteria can be carried to other parts of the body by the blood cells and cause serious injury or death.
Salmonella bacteremia can result in one or more of the following focal infections:
- Osteomyelitis (infection of the bones or bone marrow)
- Meningitis (infection of the meninges surrounding the brain and spinal cord)
- Pyelonepritis (a urinary tract infection that infects the kidneys that may be referred to as urosepsis when severe and may be called pyelitis)
- Endocarditis (infection of the endocardium, the inner layer of the heart that may include infection of the heart valves)
- Myocarditis (infection of the heart muscle)
- Vascular infections (infection of the blood vessels)
- Pancreatitis (infection of the pancreas)
- Pneumonia (infection of the lungs)
The above infections are all life-threatening, and some have extremely high mortality rates. Read about a Salmonella death lawsuit.
Salmonella bacteremia can also cause either septic arthritis or reactive arthritis (Reiter's syndrome).
The Salmonella Heidelberg outbreak associated with ground turkey has sickened people in the following states: Alabama (1), Arizona (2), California (6), Georgia (1), Iowa (1), Illinois (7), Indiana (1), Kentucky (2), Louisiana (1), Massachusetts (1), Michigan (10), Minnesota (1), Missouri (2), Mississippi (1), North Carolina (1), Nebraska (2), Nevada (1), Ohio (10), Oklahoma (1), Oregon (1), Pennsylvania (5), South Dakota(3), Tennessee (2), Texas (9), and Wisconsin (3).
1. Pravin Kaldhone,et al. (2008). Characterization of Salmonella enterica serovar Heidelberg from Turkey-Associated Sources. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. doi:10.1128/AEM.00409-08.
