The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) have published a rapid outbreak assessment following a multi-country outbreak of Salmonella enterica subspecies enterica serovar Agona (S. Agona) in the European Union (EU).
Overall, 147 outbreak cases have been reported by five EU countries, namely, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Ireland and the United Kingdom (UK). Cases have retrospectively been identified back to 2014. 122 cases since 1 January 2017, and 25 historical cases between 2014 and 2016. The United Kingdom is reporting most outbreak cases (129), with Finland (15), Denmark, Germany and Ireland (one case each) reporting the other cases. The Irish case was probably infected while visiting the United Kingdom.
Based on the information available, the microbiological evidence suggests ready-to-eat products containing cucumbers as a possible vehicle of infection but, at present, there is insufficient epidemiological information available to support the microbiological evidence. Epidemiological investigations in the other affected countries did not generate any strong hypothesis about the vehicle or source of infection.
The rapid outbreak assessment is available here.
