Iceberg Lettuce as Suggested Source of a Nationwide Outbreak Caused by Two Salmonella Serotypes, Newport and Reading, in Finland in 2008

Authors: Lienemann, Taru¹; Niskanen, Taina²; Guedes, Sandra³; Siitonen, Anja⁴; Kuusi, Markku⁵; Rimhanen-Finne, Ruska³

Source: Journal of Food Protection®, Volume 74, Number 6, June 2011 , pp. 1035-1040(6)

Publisher: International Association for Food Protection

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Abstract:

A nationwide outbreak of Salmonella enterica serotypes Newport and Reading occurred between 17 October and 28 November 2008 in Finland. A total of 77 culture-confirmed Salmonella Newport and 30 Salmonella Reading cases, including one case with a double infection, were reported. All strains isolated from the patients were subtyped using serotyping, microbial resistance profiling, and pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE). Here, the PFGE patterns of the studied Salmonella Newport strains were identical, whereas four different PFGE profiles were found among the Salmonella Reading strains. Two elderly patients died within 2 weeks of the onset of symptoms. Three geographical clusters of cases with an epidemiological link were identified. The traceback investigation suggested that the factor connecting the cases was ready-chopped iceberg lettuce available for mass catering use. However, none of the tested food, environmental samples, or the samples taken from the staff of the processing plant contained Salmonella bacteria. Tracing back to outbreak sources with a short shelf life can be complex.

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.4315/0362-028X.JFP-10-455

Affiliations: 1: National Institute for Health and Welfare, Department of Infectious Disease Surveillance and Control, Bacteriology Unit, PL 30, 00271 Helsinki, Finland. taru.lienemann@thl.fi 2: Finnish Food Safety Authority, Hygiene Unit, Mustialankatu 3, 00790 Helsinki, Finland 3: National Institute for Health and Welfare, Department of Infectious Disease Surveillance and Control, Epidemiologic Surveillance and Response Unit, PL 30, 00271 Helsinki, Finland; European Programme for Intervention Epidemiology Training, Europea 4: National Institute for Health and Welfare, Department of Infectious Disease Surveillance and Control, Bacteriology Unit, PL 30, 00271 Helsinki, Finland 5: National Institute for Health and Welfare, Department of Infectious Disease Surveillance and Control, Epidemiologic Surveillance and Response Unit, PL 30, 00271 Helsinki, Finland

Publication date: 2011-06-01

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Iceberg Lettuce as Suggested Source of a Nationwide Outbreak Caused by Two Salmonella Serotypes, Newport and Reading, in Finland in 2008

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