Animal sources of salmonellosis in humans

Salmonella spp are one of the major bacterial causes of foodborne gastroenteritis. The CDC report approximately 40,000 confirmed cases of salmonellosis annually. 1 Poultry, meat products, and eggs are most commonly identified as food sources responsible for outbreaks of salmonellosis; however, many other foodstuffs such as ice cream, vegetables and fruits, breakfast cereal, milk, juices, herbs, and spices have also been vehicles of large outbreaks. Primary vehicles can vary greatly by state. For instance, the State of Georgia Department of Human Resources reported recently that barbecue was the most common source of outbreaks for 2001, whereas the California Department of Health Services reported that alfalfa sprouts were among the most commonly implicated vehicles of salmonellosis outbreaks in California from 1996 through 1998. The CDC in 1996 implemented the FoodNet surveillance network, which is an active surveillance system designed to better estimate the frequency of foodborne diseases. In 1997, FoodNet data from 7 sites in the United States, including Connecticut, Georgia, Minnesota, Oregon, California, Maryland, and New