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In 2018–2019, a combined effort by U.S. government entities identified 356 food-poisoning cases caused by a rare serotype of Salmonella (S. Reading) in 42 states and Washington, DC. No point source was identified, but the organism was found in raw turkey products such as ground turkey and raw pet food, and in live turkeys.
In an illustrative study, the Minnesota Department of Health, using pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE), found identical isolates across a four-patient outbreak in 2018. The source in one patient was ground turkey, and two patients lived in a household where pets ate raw turkey pet food. In another two outbreaks, one in Iowa and one in DC, 152 people became ill, 51 of whom had identical isolates by PFGE. Whole turkey a…