A person has died in the UK as investigators work through 207 salmonella cases tied to a salmonella outbreak linked to eggs. Most of the illnesses were recorded in recent weeks, and more than a third of those affected needed hospital care.
The case count is what has pushed the outbreak to the top of the agenda today. Two people developed serious blood poisoning, some of the patients were babies and others were as old as 90, and 199 of the 207 cases were in England, with 47 in London, 38 in Yorkshire and Humber, six in Scotland, one in Wales and one in Northern Ireland.
Hannah Charles said public health teams are working with the Food Standards Agency and other agencies to investigate a salmonella outbreak that may be linked to eggs imported from outside of the UK. That point matters because UK experts believe the outbreak is tied to food made with imported eggs, while the UKHSA says there is no identified link to UK-produced eggs or poultry.
The UK Health Security Agency has launched the investigation and says the outbreak involves one identical strain, with egg consumption still the strongest lead. It also says people appear to have fallen ill after eating out rather than after food prepared at home, and that some of the businesses linked to 24 of the cases use imported eggs. That narrows the search, but it does not yet name the specific imported eggs or the food outlets behind them.
Salmonella can cause stomach cramps, diarrhoea, vomiting or fever, usually within 12 to 72 hours of infection. It is found in raw or under-cooked poultry or meat and eggs, and careful cooking and hand washing can help prevent infection. Thousands of food poisoning cases are recorded in the UK each year from different strains of salmonella, but it is more unusual for one strain to affect so many people at the same time. For now, the source remains under active investigation, and the unanswered question is not whether the outbreak is real, but which imported eggs put all of those people at risk.
