SALMONELLA AGONA OUTBREAK IN ISRAEL LINKED TO TURKEY MEAT

Salmonella is a foodborne pathogen and a leading cause of gastroenteritis worldwide. In Israel, the incidence of Salmonella infection has been steadily decreasing since 1995. The last reported outbreak of S. Agona in Israel was in 1994-1995, when contaminated peanut savory snack was the cause for a country wide outbreak. These snacks were also exported to United States, Canada, England and Wales causing an international outbreak.During March 2015 and June 2015, a suspected increase of Salmonella enterica serovarAgona (S. Agona) infections were noticed at the Israeli National Salmonella Reference Laboratory (NSRL). Following inquiry` the data revealed that most of the isolates were trackedback to one geographical district; the Netanya region.

From March 20, 2015 until September 3, 2015; 28 S. Agona isolates have been identified (duplicate isolates excluded), 15 of them from the Netanya district. Cases range in age from 2 years to 84 years with a median age of 15 years. The distribution between the genders is almost equal; the ratio being 8 male versus 7 female cases. Eight cases were hospitalized, 7 of the isolates were from stool and only one was invasive, from blood.

Epidemiological investigation was conducted by Public Health authorities. Most of the patients reported that they ate at the same restaurant. Representative samples of theoutbreak strain and historical S. Agona human strains were subjected to antimicrobial susceptibility testing, pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) and Multilocus Sequence Typing (MLST). Epidemiologic, laboratory, and traceback investigations identified turkey meat as the source of infection in this outbreak. In order to control the spread of the outbreak, the restaurant was closed.