Multistate live-poultry Salmonella outbreak reaches 344 cases
A multistate outbreak of Salmonella illness linked to contact with live poultry from Mt. Healthy Hatcheries in Ohio has grown by 44 cases, to 344, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said yesterday in an update.
The outbreak involves three strains, Salmonella Infantis, Newport, and Hadar, and 42 states plus Puerto Rico, a number that hasn't changed since the CDC's previous outbreak update on Aug 8.
Illness onsets range from Feb 3 to Aug 23, 2014. Case-patients range in age from younger than 1 to 95 years, but 33% are 10 years or younger. The median age is 32.
Of 224 patients with available information, 71 (32%) have been hospitalized. Also, 78% reported contact with live poultry in the week before they got sick.
"Epidemiologic, laboratory, and traceback findings have linked this outbreak of human Salmonella infections to contact with chicks, ducklings, and other live poultry from Mt. Healthy Hatcheries in Ohio," the CDC said.
That hatchery was also implicated in multistate Salmonella outbreaks in 2012 and 2013, the agency said.
Of 11 Salmonella isolates from the outbreak that a CDC lab tested, 2 were antibiotic resistant.
Sep 25 CDC update
Aug 11 CIDRAP News scan on previous update
EV-D68 cases climb to 277 in 40 states plus DC
The CDC today reported that enterovirus D68 (EV-D68) has been confirmed in 277 patients in 40 states and the District of Columbia, up 57 cases and 9 states in the past 2 days.
In addition, the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services (NHDHHS) confirmed its first two EV-D68 cases in two children from Hillsborough County, the agency said today in a news release. New Hampshire was not included today in the CDC's list of 39 states.
The virus, which was fairly rare in the United States until now, causes cold-like symptoms but can lead to serious breathing difficulty, especially in children who have asthma, the CDC said. Infants, children, and teenagers are most at risk for symptomatic infections.
The CDC first highlighted the outbreak on Sep 8 after investigating clusters of hospitalized kids in Chicago and Kansas City, Mo.
Many state health departments this year have reported increases in severe respiratory disease in children, the CDC said. "This increase could be caused by many different viruses that are common during this time of year," the agency said. "EV-D68 appears to be the predominant type of enterovirus this year and may be contributing to the increases in severe respiratory illnesses."
The United States is in the middle of the enterovirus season, the CDC said.
CDC update on affected states
Sep 26 NHDHHS news release
CDC enterovirus page
H5N8 in Korean ducks
A new report from the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) of H5N8 avian flu on a duck farm in South Korea indicates continued spread of the highly pathogenic strain that has led to culling of more than 12 million birds in numerous regions of the country this year.
The farm in the latest outbreak is in South Jeolla province in the far southwest region of the country. The farm had a flock of 21,000 ducks raised for meat. Clinical disease occurred in 2,100 ducks, all of which died, for an apparent mortality rate of 5.7%. The remaining 19,800 ducks were destroyed to prevent disease spread.
The farm was disinfected in response to the outbreak.
H5N8 began circulating in North Korea in January of this year and has infected domestic chickens and wild and domestic ducks and geese in numerous outbreaks since then. More than 10 million birds died or were culled by spring, with that number topping 12 million now. The flu strain is thought to have originated from migrating wild birds that stop over in North Korea.
Sep 25 OIE report
Most recent (Aug 5) related CIDRAP News scan
