A salmonella outbreak linked to contaminated meat has caused at least 144 cases of the food-borne disease, mainly in Britain and Ireland, European health officials said today.
The European Centre for Disease Control and Prevention said the suspected meat products had been withdrawn from sale but that the outbreak had probably also infected two people each in Finland and France and two in Sweden.
The Stockholm-based agency said its scientists working on the outbreak believe all the cases are linked to a single food processing facility in Ireland.
The genetic fingerprint of the microbe has been linked to a particular production line at the Dawn Farm Foods plant in Naas.
Of the 144 people with salmonella-induced food poisoning, the majority have the same genetic fingerprint as samples taken from the meat plant. Dawn Farm Foods decided to close the entire plant for a week last earlier this month. The Food Safety Authority of Ireland said that this decision was the company's own and not based on specific advice from the authority.
Salmonella poisoning, which causes diarrhoea, fever and abdominal cramps, is very common. Symptoms often clear up without treatment but the bacteria can be dangerous for the young and elderly whose immune systems are not working properly.