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The Norwegian Institute of Public Health (FHI) reports investigating an outbreak of Salmonella enterica serotype Blockley (Salmonella Blockley).

Image/CDC

To date, infections have been detected in 16 people living in several counties in Norway. The source of the infection is currently unknown, and an outbreak investigation has been initiated in collaboration with the Norwegian Food Safety Authority and the Norwegian Veterinary Institute.

Cases were reported from November 2021 through the first week of January 2022. The persons live in Viken (3), Vestland (2), Trøndelag (5), Nordland (2) and Troms and Finnmark (3), Rogaland (1).

“Since they live or have lived in different counties, it is likely that they are infected through a food that is distributed throughout the country. Patients are now being interviewed to find out if they can have a common source of infection, says senior adviser Heidi Lange in FHI.

“It is too early to say whether this is a limited outbreak or whether it will increase in scope, and whether one will be able to find the source of infection, but we are following the situation closely”, she continues.

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Salmonella Blockley is a rare serovariant in Europe. It has previously been seen in Norway, but then only as individual cases.

Twelve people have been hospitalized. The number of people hospitalized in this outbreak is high, but there is no indication that this salmonella variant causes more serious disease than other salmonella variants. This is probably rather an expression of the fact that it is the cases that are admitted to hospital that are detected and that those with a milder infection do not see a doctor, officials note. Salmonella infection is usually self-limiting and goes away on its own without treatment.