June 18, 2002–Dallas–TX–In what is believed to be the first of its kind, an outbreak of salmonellosis affected people from all 50 states. The contamination was traced to a food service employee at the Dallas-based Wyndham Anatole hotel.
“A hotel food-service worker had the disease but showed no symptoms,” says Doug McBride from the Texas Department of Health (TDH.) The employee was in charge of preparing salsa.
Upon the conclusion of an eight-week investigation, the TDH also reported an additional nine employees tested positive for the disease, but determined that the food most commonly consumed, by those who were ill, was the salsa made at the hotel.
Approximately 50 people were confirmed to have salmonellosis, and 650 people from all 50 states reported having had symptoms consistent with the illness. "Among the laboratory-confirmed cases, the first illness onset date was March 16. The last was April 25," notes TDH lead epidemiologist Kathleen Shupe-Ricksecker
"We do not know how or where that first employee became infected, and we do not know for a certainty that the employee was the original source of infection," Shupe-Ricksecker adds. "But because results of environmental tests in the hotel and tests of water, ice and selected food from the hotel were negative, our suspicion is that the employee became infected elsewhere."
The City of Dallas Department of Environmental Health Services, the Dallas County Health and Human Services Department, and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also were involved in the investigation.