The salmonella outbreak in Sweden is over after affecting more than 100 people.
A total of 102 people were ill during the national Salmonella typhimurium outbreak from 17 September to 19 October.
According to the Swedish Public Health Agency (Folkhälsomyndigheten), arugula, also known as arugula or arugula, and bagged salad mixes containing arugula are possible sources of infection, but no specific brand or company name.
20 of Sweden’s 21 regions are affected. Most cases were reported in Västergötland, Skåne, Varmland, Jönköping and Halland.
Patients ranged in age from 4 to 87 years, with a mean of 48 years, and 64 of them were female. Most people get sick in the second half of September. The Regional Infection Control Unit and the Swedish Food Agency (Livsmedelsverket) helped Folkhälsomyndigheten try to find the source of the infection.
This involved collecting information from confirmed outbreak patients on what they ate before becoming ill, using interviews, surveys and purchase receipts.
A case-control study was also conducted based on questions about the suspect foods to see how much those foods were consumed by outbreak cases in the week preceding the onset of illness compared to healthy controls.
The results showed that people who became ill during the outbreak ate more arugula or mixed salads that may contain arugula than the control group. The products were also found on multiple purchase receipts held by the patient from around mid-September.
but the source could not be determined by microbiological analysis of the product.
Such products have a limited shelf life and the number of newly reported illnesses has decreased since early October, so salads officially deemed tainted are no longer on the market.
The incident does not appear to be related to the recent outbreak of Salmonella typhimurium in Denmark. Officials believe the outbreak in Sweden was caused by a different source because the strains do not aggregate.
In Denmark, 15 cases were recorded between 15 August and 27 September. The patients were 8 men and 7 men and women ranging in age from 4 to 84 years, with a median age of 61 years. The source of the news could not be identified.
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