Fourteen people got sick with salmonella after eating Christmas meals at a homeless shelter in Washington, health officials said.
The meals were served Dec. 25 and Dec. 26 and included leftovers at the Mary Pilgrim Inn, King County public health officials said in a news release.
Mary Pilgrim Inn is operated by the Downtown Emergency Service Center, and it offers emergency housing and “supportive services,” according to its website. It is not a walk-in shelter.
“We are actively working with Public Health in their ongoing investigation of the salmonella outbreak and don’t have any new information to share,” Jessica Schreindl, a spokesperson for the agency, told McClatchy News by email.
After residents and staff ate food at the shelter, more than a dozen people fell ill with salmonellosis, which is caused by the salmonella bacteria, health officials said.
Five of those people were hospitalized from the outbreak, officials said.
Health officials went to the shelter and talked to staff about food preparation and improving safety in the kitchen, according to the release.
More people have been tested for the bacteria, and results are pending, officials said.
The investigation is ongoing.
What is salmonella?
Salmonella is a bacteria that makes people sick when they ingest contaminated food or water, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.
The bacteria can also spread to people who touch “animals, animal poop, and the places animals live and roam,” the federal agency said.
Every year, about about 1.35 million people in the U.S. get sick with salmonella.
“Salmonella are one of the leading causes of foodborne illnesses. Salmonella also are the leading cause of hospitalizations and deaths linked to foodborne illness,” according to the CDC.
The most at-risk groups of people are children younger than 5, adults 50 years or older with underlying medical issues, people over 65, people with weakened immune systems and international travelers.
Common symptoms include diarrhea, fever and stomach cramps.
These symptoms can occur six hours to six days after ingesting the bacteria, officials said.
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