Salmonella outbreak tied to nut butter is over after 13 cases in 10 states
A multistate Salmonella outbreak linked to nut butter produced by an Oregon company has reached 13 cases but now appears to be over, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said today.
The number of cases is 2 more than reported Dec 3 in the initial outbreak announcement. The number of affected states rose from 9 to 10 as Maine was added to the list. Oregon has the most cases, with 4, and it reported the other new case. All other states have 1 case each.
No patients have been hospitalized with the outbreak strain of Salmonella Paratyphi B variant L(+) tartrate(+), the CDC said, and no one died from their illness.
All 10 ill people interviewed reported exposure to a nut butter or nut butter spread in the week before they became ill, and 8 of them specifically reported exposure to JEM Raw brand sprouted nut butter spread. On December 2, 2015, JEM Raw Chocolate, LLC, of Bend, Ore., voluntarily recalled its entire line of sprouted nut butter spreads because of potential contamination with Salmonella.
Jan 15 CDC update
Dec 3, 2015, CIDRAP News story on initial announcement
CDC study shows cruise ship norovirus outbreaks uncommon
Despite common perceptions, outbreaks of norovirus disease on cruise ships are relatively uncommon, and the rate of diarrheal disease has decreased 24% since 1990, according the CDC today in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR).
The agency reported that, among 73,599,005 passengers on cruise ships from 2008 through 2014, a total of 129,678 cases (0.18%) of acute gastroenteritis, or diarrheal disease, were reported. And among 28,281,361 crew members, 43,132 cases (0.15%) were reported. That amounts to about 2 passengers or crew getting sick among every 1,000. And only a small proportion of those cases were caused by norovirus, even though the pathogen is the leading cause of outbreaks on cruise ships, the CDC said.
The rate of acute gastroenteritis on cruise ships fell from 29.2 cases per 100,000 travel days in 1990 to 28.5 in 2004, a 2.4% drop. It further fell from 27.2 cases per 100,000 travel days in 2008 to 22.3 in 2014, for an overall drop of 23.6%.
The authors noted, "Norovirus, the most common causative agent of outbreaks, accounted for 14,911 cases among passengers and crew members during 2008-2014, 0.01% of the estimated number of norovirus cases in the United States during the study period."
Jan 15 MMWR report