May 30, 2014

More salmonella incidents in US connected to Foster Farms Chicken

Salmonella poisoning, which are connected to Foster Farms chicken, has been confirmed in 50 more people in the US.

The latest figure brings to a total of 574 cases in 27 states since March 2013, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Since the last agency update in April 2014, there has been an average of eight new cases a week. While there appears to be a decline in the number of new cases reported each week, the outbreak isn't over, said Dr. Rob Tauxe, the CDC's director of foodborne, waterborne and environmental diseases.

He added that the new cases appear to be linked to fresh, retail chicken and not chicken that had been kept in home freezers for months.

According to the CDC, nearly 40% of people, who became sick during the outbreak, have been hospitalised, while 13% have developed life-threatening blood infections, which is triple the rate in typical salmonella outbreaks, NBC News reported.