November 4, 2019

Ground beef tainted with salmonella leads to death of one person in US

The consumption of ground beef contaminated with salmonella has led to death of one person and nine others falling ill in in six US states, NBC News reported.

The cases were reported on November 1 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Eight of the 10 individuals needed to be hospitalised. The number of those hospitalised is far greater than what health officials would normally expect to see from salmonella. The CDC said salmonella poisoning usually has a 20% hospitalisation rate.

Contaminated ground beef takes the blame for the latest incidents, based on a preliminary investigation. However, health officials have yet to identify a single brand or source.No recall is associated with this small outbreak.

Investigators said that those who got sick reported eating a variety of ground beef brands purchased from different locations.

Cases have been reported in California, Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas. Those who have fallen ill are between the ages of 48 and 74, and most are men.

- NBC News