Salmonella health scare.

An emergency meeting will take place this week after it was revealed
cases of Salmonella in Guernsey have spiralled out of control.

The Health and Social Services Department has told Channel Television that 25 new cases have been reported in 10 days.

Guernsey's
Public Health are issuing a further warning to islanders as there are
concerns that Guernsey could be on the brink of a Salmonella epidemic
in the island.

On May 20th Channel Television received this
statement from Public Health saying that there had been 18 reported
cases of Salmonella in the island. Since then, that figure has grown to
43. Usually Guernsey would have just 4 cases in one month, June's
already seen 25.

Salmonella is bacteria that can be found with
eggs and poultry. You can become seriously ill if the food isn't cooked
correctly, or if there is an infected batch of eggs.

Public
Health aren't saying where these people have contracted the infection
from, but have confirmed that one paticular establisment is under
investigation. It's thought that the preperation of mayonaise with raw
eggs is the route of the problem.

Guernsey's Director of Public Health Dr David Jeffs says they're doing everything they can to find out what's going on.

He
said: "We have been investigating. We have had experts from the
Visionary Laboratory Services have been over here who have been
sampling chicken and poultry on the island.

"We've sent our
Environmental Health officers to various different catering
establishments. We are re-issuing our advice in printed form to every
single establishment in the island and we hope that with common sense
advice implemented, we will be able to get on top of this."

The
cases have been so severe that patients have needed treatment with
intravenous fluids and antibiotics. Public Health and Environmental
Health are working hard to make sure that the cases won't be into the
hundreds by this time next month.


I don't know about you but i think this is disgusting .All catering establishments should have vigorous spot checks and if all is not right close the place down until they sort it and if they cannot keep on top of it close them down for good. What do you think ?

If as it seems they have an establishement under investigation then I dont see a reason to over react, I would expect it to be contained already so not likely to be an ongoing problem.

Obviously if the establisment is a catering supplier thats more of a problem, but I think we would have had warning sent by now it that was the case.

A careless member of staff not rotating stock could cause this and that does not warrant an over reaction calling for extra measures, the regulations in place are quite enough I think.

surely the establishment should be closed down until it has been thoroughly cleaned and given the all clear by the BOH

once it has been confirmed as that place they usually do close them and have a good clean ...before they are fit to open again.
I hope this procedure still stands

it was my belief that any staff who had salmonella or had been in contact with peeps who had had to have 3 or 4 stool specimens that were clear of the bug before returning to work and that the establishment had to be sterilised from top to bottom