A salmonella outbreak tied to raw oysters has made 27 people sick across 12 states, and five of them ended up in the hospital, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The CDC issued a Food Safety Alert on Monday, October 19, after public health officials opened an investigation. The people who got sick are spread across Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Florida, Maryland, Indiana, Colorado, Kentucky, Illinois, and Iowa.
The CDC links the infections to raw oysters harvested by Little Wicomico Oyster Company from the Little Wicomico River in Virginia. On October 9, the company voluntarily recalled oysters with harvest dates between September 18 and October 8 and notified its customers. It has stopped harvesting from the impacted area and is cooperating with officials.
The Virginia Department of Health (VDH) temporarily closed the harvest area. The closure covers oysters and clams and runs through November 7. Crabs and finfish are not included. The VDH said the outbreak first surfaced in Pennsylvania, where at least five people were sick when the river was shut down. That was the first sign that this salmonella outbreak traced back to shellfish from that river.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) worked with states on a traceback, which means investigators follow what sick people ate back to where it came from. The oysters eaten by the people who got sick were harvested from multiple locations. Little Wicomico Oyster Company was the only common source for the seven people included in that traceback. That is the link that has been established so far. The other cases have not been publicly tied to a single farm.
How the oysters got contaminated is still unknown. Lance Gregory, director of the VDH’s Office of Environmental Health Services, told PEOPLE on Wednesday, October 21, that investigators are testing oysters from the Little Wicomico River to find out. He also said the problem is limited to one spot.
“Please note, emergency closure and recall only involves one shellfish growing area in Virginia,” Gregory added. “VDH oversees more than 90 shellfish growing areas covering four major rivers and their tributaries, the Chesapeake Bay, and estuaries of the Atlantic Ocean. Shellfish products harvested from the other open Virginia growing areas and distributed by other Virginia shellfish dealers are not impacted by the emergency closure or recall.”
If you have recalled oysters at home, the CDC says to throw them out or return them. Anything that touched them should be washed with hot, soapy water or run through the dishwasher.
Here is the part that keeps this salmonella outbreak from being a one-night problem. Symptoms usually start anywhere from six hours to six days after someone eats the bacteria. An oyster you had over the weekend can still make you sick. Food contaminated with salmonella does not usually look, smell, or taste spoiled, so a fresh-looking oyster tells you nothing.
The CDC says to call your healthcare provider right away if you have diarrhea and a fever higher than 102°F, diarrhea for more than two days that is not getting better, bloody diarrhea, or so much vomiting that you cannot keep liquids down.
Most people recover without treatment. Children under 5, older adults, and people with weakened immune systems, meaning bodies that have a harder time fighting infection, can get more severely ill.
Investigators are still testing oysters from the river, and the Little Wicomico River stays closed to harvesting through November 7.
