The CDC is reporting an eight-year outbreak of salmonella has been traced back to a single mail-order poultry facility in the U.S. The researchers broke the news in the current edition of the New England Journal of Medicine this week.
According to previous information released by the CDC, the facility is probably located in New Mexico. Over three hundred cases of salmonella reported in 43 states across the country since 2004 that have all originated from the location, dubbed "hatchery C."
"During the 8-year period from 2004 through 2011, we identified 316 cases in 43 states as part of the outbreak," researcher Nicholas H. Gaffga and colleagues reported. Nearly half of these cases were among children under five years of age.
"Because only a portion of salmonella infections are laboratory confirmed, it is likely that thousands of additional unreported infections occurred in association with this outbreak."
"During the spring, which is the peak shipping season, Hatchery C ships an estimated 25,000 birds in one week," Gaffga and colleagues note.
The unnamed facility reportedly ships as many as four million poultry chicks a year and many of them are given to children as Easter gifts. The facility has not been shut down or fined but CDC staff say they are making an effort to improve standards.
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