Maryland cukes eyed as Salmonella source
Maryland cukes eyed as Salmonella source
Cucumbers from a Maryland farm are the apparent source of a Salmonella outbreak that has caused one fatality and sickened 275 people in 29 states, according to the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention.
Although the outbreak occurred between May 20 and Sept. 30, 2014, this is the first public reporting of the incident.
Of those sickened, approximately one-third were hospitalized. The lone fatality was an elderly man who had contracted bacteremia.
CDC and local and state health officials were able to identify cucumbers as the source of the contamination after a traceback investigation from one cluster of illnesses pointed to a grower on Maryland’s eastern shore. Further investigation revealed that the grower had applied poultry manure 120 days before harvest. The manure was no longer available for testing, and samples taken from the farm months after harvest tested negative for Salmonella.