In a CDC Investigation notice posted on July 19, 2017, it was reported that there was another multi-state outbreak linked to clinical, commercial and college microbiology teaching laboratories.
- Twenty-four people infected with the outbreak strain of Salmonella Typhimurium were reported from 16 states.
- Six ill people were hospitalized. No deaths were reported.
PulseNet performs DNA fingerprinting on Salmonella bacteria isolated from ill people and was used to identify illnesses that were part of this outbreak.
The same strain of Salmonella Typhimurium has previously been associated with infections linked to microbiology laboratory exposure in 2011 (https://www.cdc.gov/salmonella/2011/lab-exposure-1-17-2012.html) and 2014 (https://www.cdc.gov/salmonella/typhimurium-labs-06-14/index.html ).
This outbreak highlights the potential risk of Salmonella infection associated with working in microbiology laboratories. Students and staff in microbiology laboratories should receive laboratory biosafety training. Either nonpathogenic or attenuated bacterial strains should be used when possible, especially in teaching laboratories.
The following Guidance documents were developed specifically for Salmonella and other similar human pathogens utilized in the teaching laboratory: http://www.asmscience.org/content/journal/jmbe/10.1128/jmbe.v14i1.531
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- Salmonella_test: FDA
