The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and public health and regulatory officials in several states are investigating a multistate outbreak of multidrug-resistant Salmonella Reading infections linked to raw turkey products that has sickened 90 people in 26 states.

Image/CDC
Image/CDC

Forty people have been hospitalized, and no deaths have been reported.

The investigation indicates that raw turkey products from a variety of sources, including raw turkey pet food and raw turkey products, are contaminated with Salmonella Reading and are making people sick.

A single, common supplier of raw turkey products or of live turkeys has not been identified. The outbreak strain of Salmonella Reading is present in live turkeys and in many types of raw turkey products, indicating it might be widespread in the turkey industry.

Whole Genome Sequencing (WGS) analysis did not identify predicted antibiotic resistance in 68 isolates from 28 ill people and 40 food and animal samples. However, 33 isolates from ill people and 49 isolates from food and animal samples contained genes for resistance to all or some of the following antibiotics: ampicillin, streptomycin, sulfamethoxazole, tetracycline, gentamicin, and kanamycin. Testing of four outbreak isolates using standard antibiotic susceptibility testing by CDC’s National Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring System (NARMS) laboratory confirmed these results. This resistance likely will not affect the choice of antibiotic used to treat most people since these antibiotics are not normally used to treat Salmonella infections.