The Salmonella Heidelberg outbreak at a Tennessee prison that has sent two of the nine infected inmates to the hospital is a subject of a new report pointing to a larger investigation from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.
CDC says the outbreak associated with 33,840 pounds of mechanically separated chicken recalled on Jan. 10 by Tyson Foods Inc. is being investigated by the agency's National Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring System (NARMS) laboratory.
The NARMS lab is currently conducting antibiotic resistance testing on clinical isolates collected from the sickened prisoners who are infected with the outbreak strain of Salmonella Heidelberg. NARMS is a public health surveillance system for the U.S. that tracks antimicrobial resistance in foodborne and other enteric bacteria found in people, raw meat and poultry and food-producing animals.
Results of NARMS testing in the Salmonella Heidelberg outbreak will be reported when completed, according to CDC.
State and federal investigators have concluded the Tyson brand mechanically separated chicken is the likely source of the Salmonella Heidelberg outbreak. The strain is one that is commonly reported to PulseNet, and 19 other people in 12 states were reported to have it in late 2013 with onset dates between Oct. 22 and Dec. 15.
Four to eight cases of this strain are reported to PulseNet each month.
CDC says more investigation is required to determine if those cases are related to those in Tennessee. These cases are not related, according to CDC, to the mutlti-drug resistant Salmonella Heidelberg infections linked to Foster Farms brand chicken.
Raw poultry products often are contaminated with Salmonella bacteria.
