The Broome County Sheriff’s Office has shared new details about last week’s salmonella outbreak in the county jail.
Inmates in the jail began getting sick last Monday, May 25, according to the sheriff’s office. Treatment began on Tuesday and by Wednesday the county health department confirmed the illnesses were caused by salmonella.
By Friday, the sheriff’s office reported that 320 of the approximately 450 incarcerated people in the jail were sick. That’s about 71 percent of the jail population.
Four people were hospitalized but they are improving according to Sheriff Fred Akshar.
Salmonella is a bacteria. It most often makes people sick when they eat contaminated food, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It can also be transmitted by drinking contaminated water or by coming into contact with contaminated surfaces and other infected people.
Symptoms may include diarrhea, stomach cramps, vomiting and fever. It can lead to dehydration and sometimes death. No one has died from the jail outbreak.
At a press conference on May 29, Akshar said the entire facility was cleaned and sanitized. All food was removed and meals are being prepared off site and brought from an outside source.
Testing found salmonella in chicken salad that was eaten by some incarcerated people. Further tests are being conducted to determine if that is the same strain of the bacteria that caused the illness. The testing is being done by the New York State Department of Health in the Wadsworth Center laboratory in Albany.
Broome County Health Director Olivia Catalano said it may take weeks or months to get the results of those tests. The investigation is ongoing to determine how the contamination began.
The county medical director, Dr. Lazarus Gehring said the outbreak could end up being one of the largest in New York State history. Gehring said the largest salmonella infection to date was in a downstate hospital in 1987. Four hundred four people were infected and nine died.