Source of outbreak still undetermined

Local and state health officials started seeing an outbreak of a rare form of salmonella in late April. They reported the cases to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and by May 31 the FDA had linked the illness to tomatoes. All of the cases have the genetic footprint of that rare strain of salmonella. Of the 1.4 million estimated salmonella cases last year, only 25 were determined to be of the Salmonella Saintpaul strain that caused this outbreak, Williams said.

--

How many people have become sick?

The CDC said the outbreak has sickened 167 and might have caused one death. However, the agency cautioned that far more people are likely to have been sickened by the tainted fruit but either didn't visit a doctor or didn't have the lab work done to prove a link to that strain of salmonella. Most of the ill are from Texas and New Mexico.

--

Have there been previous outbreaks?

Tomatoes are prone to salmonella contamination, health officials said. Since 1990, there have been 13 multi-state outbreaks of tomato-linked salmonella infections. In the instances in which the FDA could find the sources, the outbreaks were generally caused by domestically grown tomatoes.

--

jerry.hirsch@latimes.com