A multistate epidemic outbreak of Salmonella Goldcoast infection in humans, June 2009 to March 2010: the investigation in Italy

Abstract

After an urgent inquiry into a suspected international outbreak of Salmonella Goldcoast infection was launched by Hungary in October 2009 a nation-wide multidisciplinary investigation was carried out in Italy. The aims were to verify whether the higher than expected number of cases of S. Goldcoast infection that had occurred in Italy in the previous months were linked to the outbreak in Hungary and to determine their origin. Between June 2009 and March 2010, 79 confirmed cases of S. Goldcoast infection were identified. Of these, 17 were part of three different point-source outbreaks probably associated with the consumption of salami. Eating salami was also reported by 20 of the 39 sporadic cases that could be interviewed. Fifteen strains of S. Goldcoast isolated from the cases were typed by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis. They shared more than 90% homology with the Hungarian epidemic strain and were also highly similar to S. Goldcoast strains that had been isolated in Italy from pigs and pork-containing food items in 2009 and 2010. Although the origin of the outbreak and the common source linking the Hungarian and the Italian cases could not be definitively identified, our results suggest a possible zoonotic connection of the outbreak cases with the pork production chain.

Outbreak of Salmonella enterica Goldcoast infection associated with whelk consumption, England, June to October 2013

“…We present epidemiological, environmental, microbiological and food chain evidence, which all support the conclusion that this outbreak of Salmonella Goldcoast infection was associated with consumption of whelks processed by Factory X. Salmonella Goldcoast outbreaks have previously been associated with pork products (salami [4], pork cheese (cooked pig organs stuffed in a pig stomach) [5], French paté [6] and raw fermented sausage [7]), watercress [8] and hard cheese [9]. Whelks have previously been associated with toxin-based food poisoning [10] but to our knowledge, this outbreak is the first known report of bacterial food poisoning associated with whelk consumption.…”

Carriage of Distinct mcr‐1‐Harboring Plasmids by Unusual Serotypes of Salmonella

“…S . Goldcoast was also reported to cause foodborne disease outbreaks in Germany, England, Majorca, Hungary, Italy, and Taiwan, China 32,33. Fewer studies are reported regarding S .…”

Occurrence and traceability of Salmonella spp. in five Sardinian fermented sausage facilities

“…Ready-to-eat (RTE) pork meat products have been linked to several Salmonella outbreaks: salami and sausages in Italy (Pontello et al ., 1998; Luzzi et al ., 2007; Scavia et al ., 2013; Scaltriti et al ., 2015; Andreoli et al ., 2017) and north-European countries (Emberland et al ., 2006; Hjertqvist et al ., 2006; Kuhn et al ., 2011), chorizo in Spain (Hernandez-Arricibita et al ., 2015) and Denmark (Nygard et al ., 2007). In 2015, an outbreak of monophasic and biphasic S .…”