One death among 28 sick in salmonella outbreak
Since January, 28 people have contracted the bacteria strain, which has caused outbreaks overseas.
The South Island is hardest hit with 21 cases, including 74-year-old Phyllis Priest, of Wakefield, near Nelson.
She died in Nelson Hospital last month after being infected with the Salmonella mbandaka stain.
She was one of 10 infected in the Nelson-Marlborough district.
Another six cases occurred in Otago-Southland, three in Canterbury and one each in South Canterbury and the West Coast. Wellington has had three cases this year.
Priest%26#39;s son, 50-year-old Sam Westrupp, of Nelson, said his mother became ill and he took her to hospital three weeks before she died on March 13.
He said his mother lived on a farm with a chicken which used to come into her house and defecate.
%26quot;The hospital came and did tests and that%26#39;s where they thought it could have come from,%26quot; said Westrupp.
%26quot;We wrung its neck and put it in the incinerator.%26quot;
Westrupp _ who lived on his mother%26#39;s farm looking after her in her old age _ was also infected.
%26quot;It was only the fact that I am younger that meant it didn%26#39;t affect me so badly,%26quot; he said.
%26quot;I am good now but I was as crook as a dog for a week.%26quot;
The source of the wider outbreak has yet to be identified but the Ministry of Health is investigating, along with public health staff in Nelson-Marlborough and Canterbury.
As salmonella is a food-borne illness, victims are being asked what they ate before they fell ill. In particular, they are being questioned about eating chicken, eggs, carrots, fresh garlic, cucumber, beef and lettuce; and whether they have had contact with pets.
Salmonella bacteria usually live in the guts of animals, including chickens, pigs, cattle, rodents and pets.
None of the victims reported travelling overseas in the three days before they got sick.
One person had direct contact with another confirmed case.
Nelson-Marlborough medical officer of health Dr Jill Sherwood said no common source of illness had been found. It was hard to pinpoint one because of the length of time between people becoming ill and diagnosis.
The ministry%26#39;s public health director Dr Mark Jacobs said no food premises have been implicated and all food samples tested negative.
Mbandaka was one of the dominant strains of salmonella being reported nationally during February.
Canterbury medical officer of health Dr Alistair Humphrey said it was unknown at this stage if salmonella was the main cause of the pensioner%26#39;s death.
The five people who had the strain in Canterbury, South Canterbury and the West Coast were all recovering well, he said.
The mbandaka strain is more common in Australia, where a 1996 outbreak in South Australia was linked to contaminated peanut butter.
As far as Humphrey knew, there had been no previous outbreaks of the mbandaka strain in New Zealand.
