Almost 200 people, mostly children, were sickened due to an outbreak of Salmonella Enteritidis, which at least 18 required hospitalization for their illnesses, according to a La Razon report (computer translated).

Image/CIA
Image/CIA

The outbreak occurred at a private school at San Bartolome de Tirajana (Gran Canaria) after a food handler contaminated a pasta salad that was served as lunch .

The CEO of Public Health of the Canary Government, José Díaz Flores, said  the analysis of their department does not attribute the salmonella outbreak to products with which the dish is prepared, made with salsa and eggs, but hygienic conditions inadequate sanitary by the manipulator.

Flores said that there are 199 persons ill due to this bacterium, 191 of them children, and 8 were workers at the South Sands School. For more infectious disease news and information, visit and “like” the Infectious Disease News Facebook page.

An expert moderator at the website, ProMED Mail said, Serotype Enteritidis is often associated with undercooked eggs or egg products. The posting seems to imply that the food is not at fault but rather the sanitary practices of the food handler. Given the serotype, it is likely that the reservoir was uncooked eggs or sauce made from raw eggs, and the food handler was implicated for inadequate cooking or poor kitchen hygiene techniques rather than the food handler being infected and, by poor hand washing, contaminating the eggs and/or sauce.

Salmonellosis is often thought to be associated with cracked eggs or eggs dirty with fecal matter, a problem controlled by cleaning procedures implemented in the egg industry. However, most of the salmonellosis outbreaks linked to eggs were associated with uncracked, disinfected Grade A eggs, or foods containing such eggs. The undamaged eggs become contaminated during ovulation and are contaminated with the bacteria before the egg shell is formed.