City of Alamosa Salmonella Outbreak - Colorado
On March 19, 2008, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) issued a bottled water advisory for residents of Alamosa, Colorado, and area residents. The advisory was issued after a Salmonella outbreak was traced to the consumption of water from the Alamosa municipal water system. At that time, 33 cases of Salmonella had been confirmed and were linked to the outbreak; 46 additional cases were pending confirmation and were being investigated. On March 1, 2010, Marler Clark filed a Salmonella Lawsuit on behalf of victims of the outbreak.
By March 21, 2008, 138 cases of Salmonella had been reported in connection with the outbreak. Cases ranged from less than a year old to 89 years old. Seven of 47 persons confirmed ill with Salmonella had been hospitalized.
As of March 24, 216 Salmonella cases had been reported, with 68 confirmed. The municipal water system is scheduled to be flushed starting March 25, and officials estimate that it will take several days of flushing to ensure that water is safe to consume.
April 19, 2008: As of early this week, Alamosa has reported 389 cases of Salmonella, 107 of which have been confirmed by laboratory testing. Sixteen people have been hospitalized. It now appears that there may be a death related to the consumption of Salmonella-tainted water.
The CDC estimates that 1.4 million cases occur annually (CDC, 2005, October 13). Approximately 600 deaths are caused by Salmonella infections in the U.S. every year, accounting for 31 percent of all food-related deaths (CDC, 2005, October 13; MMWR Weekly, 2001). The reported incidence of Salmonella illnesses is about 14 cases per each 100,000 persons (MMWR Weekly, 2006), amounting to approximately 30,000 confirmed cases of salmonellosis yearly in the U.S. (CDC, 2005, October 13). In 2005, just over 36,000 cases were reported from public health laboratories across the nation, representing a 12 percent decrease compared with the previous decade, but a 1.5 percent increase over 2004 (CDC, 2007). As only about 3 percent of Salmonella cases are officially reported nationwide, and many milder cases are never diagnosed, the true incidence is undoubtedly much higher (Mead, 1999).