The CDC reports as of April 6, 2018, 170 people infected with the outbreak strains of Salmonella Typhimurium have been reported from South Dakota, Nebraska, Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, and Mississippi.
Illnesses started on dates ranging from January 8, 2018, to February 18, 2018. Ill people range in age from 7 to 89 years, with a median age of 59. Sixty-seven percent of ill people are female. 94 hospitalizations and one death been reported.
As of April 6, the outbreak appears to be over.
WGS analysis did not identify predicted antibiotic resistance in 67 of 72 isolates (70 ill people and 2 food samples). Five isolates from ill people contained genes for resistance to all or some of the following antibiotics: amoxicillin-clavulanic acid, ampicillin, cefoxitin, ceftriaxone, gentamicin, streptomycin, sulfamethoxazole, and tetracycline. This resistance is unlikely to affect the treatment of most people, but some infections might be difficult to treat with antibiotics usually prescribed and may require a different antibiotic. Testing of outbreak isolates using standard antibiotic susceptibility testing methods is currently underway in CDC’s National Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring System (NARMS) laboratory.
State and local health officials continue to interview ill people to ask about the foods they ate and other exposures in the week before they became ill. Of 159 people interviewed, 131 (82%) reported eating chicken salad from Fareway stores. Triple T Specialty Meats, Inc. produced the chicken salad that ill people reported eating.
It takes an average of two to four weeks from when a person becomes ill with Salmonella to when the illness is reported to CDC or health officials. Because of this reporting lag, the additional 105 people added to this investigation likely became ill from eating chicken salad recalled by Triple T Specialty Meats, Inc. which is no longer available for purchase. The last reported illness began on February 18, 2018.