3 people seriously ill after outbreak of food poisoning

Another major outbreak of salmonella food poisoning linked to eggs has infected 41 people in Co Wicklow and Co Dublin, including three young adults who are "seriously ill" in hospital. It is the fourth outbreak to be confirmed in the past week. The three others are in Co Donegal, involving 66 people, eight of whom required hospital treatment.

A Chinese restaurant in Co Wicklow is believed to have been one of the sources of the latest outbreak caused by the salmonella enteritidis bacterium, which is found only in poultry or eggs.

It has closed voluntarily, according to the Eastern Health Board, which declined to name the premises.

So far, the investigation shows an association between eating fried rice (which contains eggs) and the illness among those who ate food there on Friday and Saturday last, an EHB spokeswoman said.

"The restaurant is co-operating fully and closed voluntarily as soon as the problem was identified in Monday. It remains closed pending completion of the investigation."

As with the Donegal outbreak, however, eggs as opposed to poultry meat is suspected, and it has led to a food alert being issued by the Food Safety Authority. The cases are not connected to an E coli 0157 outbreak in Cork being linked to contaminated minced meat.

It was initially believed that outbreaks had been confined to Donegal, but tests confirmed the germ's presence in specimens from the latest three people in hospital.

In such circumstances, the FSA issued a more strongly worded alert on eating raw eggs, raw egg products and under-cooked poultry meat.

About a third of the State's poultry, including eggs, is imported. Many countries do not operate standards as strict as the Republic. The Department of Agriculture has a stringent flock-slaughter policy when the germ is found in poultry.

The infection symptoms are diarrhoea, fever and abdominal pain. Headache and vomiting may also occur. Most recover within a few days, but the FSA advised those with these symptoms to see their GP who can offer advice and take a specimen for testing.

It has advised people of the possible risk from consuming raw eggs and raw egg products such as homemade mayonnaise, mousses, ice-cream, tira-misu, baked Alaska and sauces.

"In particular, we advise that vulnerable groups should not consume these foods," FSA chief executive Dr Patrick Wall said. "These groups are the elderly, young children, pregnant women or those with any form of poor health."

Those preparing food in catering business or institutions, he said, should use pasteurised eggs when making products which are not heated sufficiently to kill bacteria during preparation.

The EHB has enlisted the help of GPs in Wicklow to deal with the outbreak. It has advised any person who has stored takeaway food from a restaurant in Co Wicklow to contact its office at 0404-68400.

Mr Liam Butler of the Irish Egg Association said food safety topped the agenda of his members. Special measures were in place to ensure, if importing, that salmonella-free stocks including birds and hatching eggs were involved.

Unlike most producers in the North, he said, "most of our producers use heat-treated feeds, which is one of the best protections against salmonella".