The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) is currently investigating an outbreak of Salmonella linked to patients at one of the largest hospitals in Detroit, the Henry Ford Hospital. So far, there are 14 patients, all staying in the same unit of Henry Ford Hospital, who have developed salmonellosis. Seven of the victims have now been discharged but another seven remain hospitalized in an isolation unit at Henry Ford. And while investigators have indicated that the outbreak does not appear to be food related, at this time they are offering no information as to the likely source.
According to one emergency room physician who works Henry Ford Hospital, Dr.Frank McGeorge, “in a hospital setting, it could be just about anything, and that’s where the detective work happens and really has to take place.” According to Ron Simon, a national food poisoning lawyer, “finding the source may not be possible at this time, given the extreme measures they are using to sanitize that unit. The problem is that the proper sanitary practices that should have prevented the outbreak in the first place were not being adhered to.”
This outbreak follows another hospital-related outbreak, this time of listeria, that was eventually linked to Blue Bell ice cream served at the hospital in Kansas. That outbreak led to the deaths of as many as five patients. Other outbreaks of communicable pathogens have been noted at many hospitals, retirement centers, and even schools. The close confines provide the optimum conditions for the spread of communicable diseases when proper sanitary practices are not adhered to.
UPDATE: Also reported this month are new numbers in the ongoing outbreak of Salmonella Poona, linked to at least 671 victims, including 31 hospitalizations and three deaths. The company, Andrews and Williamson, imported the cucumbers from Baja California and sold them widely in the U.S. They were further spread by third parties who purchased the cucumbers in bulk. Ron Simon and Associates filed the first wrongful death lawsuit in this matter earlier this month in California.
For more information about the Henry Ford Hospital Salmonella Outbreak or any other Salmonella outbreak, call the Salmonella Claim Center at 1-888-335-4901.
