By NewsDesk  @infectiousdiseasenews

In a follow-up on the Salmonella Typhimurium outbreak in Sweden, four additional cases have been reported.

Stockholm
Sweden/CIA

As of October 16, 75 people from 11 counties fell ill in the outbreak. The disease cases were linked using whole-genome sequencing.

Most cases of illness were reported from Västra Götaland, Jönköping, Halland and Dalarna but also Örebro, Gävleborg, Kronoberg, Stockholm, Södermanland, Västernorrland and Östergötland.

The affected infection protection units, the municipalities’ environmental and health offices, the National Food Agency and the Public Health Authority have investigated the outbreak to identify the source of the infection. The Public Health Authority, with the help of the Health Report’s web panel , conducted a case-control study to compare what the disease cases ate the week before they became ill with what healthy control persons ate. The results show that those who became ill in the salmonella outbreak had eaten small tomatoes to a greater extent than healthy control subjects.

The Swedish Food Agency’s investigation shows that the tomatoes were delivered to grocery stores at the end of August, but since they are fresh tomatoes, they are no longer there. Deliveries of small tomatoes to stores where the majority of the sick people have been shopping have been tracked by the National Food Agency and the assessment is that the tomatoes come from a European supplier. The country in question has been informed of the suspicion. Foods from disease cases have been analyzed but no salmonella has been detected.

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