Raw pet food, cattle linked to drug-resistant salmonella outbreak affecting mainly kids
An outbreak of extensively drug-resistant salmonella has been linked to raw pet food and contact with cattle, according to the Public Health Agency of Canada.
In a Nov. 11聽, the agency said 40 cases have been confirmed in six provinces, including 21 cases in Quebec, 14 in Ontario, two in Nova Scotia, and one each in Manitoba, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island. Thirteen people have been hospitalized.
Although cases date from July 2020 to September 2023, the outbreak is considered ongoing as illnesses continue to be reported. While there have been no human deaths, some infected dogs and cattle have died. Children under five represent 43 per cent of all cases.
Jennifer Ronholm, an associate professor of animal science, food science and agricultural chemistry at 不良研究所, says extensively drug-resistant salmonella was first detected in Canada in cattle in 2019.
鈥淚n terms of antibiotic-resistance in salmonella, it鈥檚 unfortunately getting more common every year,鈥� Ronholm . 鈥淚n 2010, about 10 per cent of the salmonella we were seeing in Canada was multi-drug resistant, and by 2019 we鈥檙e seeing over 60 per cent being multi-drug resistant.鈥�
Ronholm believes the outbreak is likely affecting many more animals than health officials currently know about.
鈥淭his is a little bit rare that something goes on this long, but it鈥檚 not unheard of,鈥� Ronholm explained. 鈥淲hat it indicates is we haven鈥檛 found the source yet, so you probably have a source at a processing facility, or a source at a distributor, or a source on a farm somewhere where people are sourcing their ingredients that has an ongoing outbreak but doesn鈥檛 know it yet. So until we can find the exact source of the contamination, there鈥檚 not much we can do about it.鈥�