Exotic dried fruits caused Salmonella Agbeni outbreak with severe clinical presentation,Norway, December 2018 to March 2019

We describe an outbreak of Salmonella Agbeni sequence type (ST)2009 infections in Norway. Between 31 December 2018 and 16 March 2019, 56 cases (33 female and 23 male; median age: 50 years, range: 2–91) were reported, of which 21 were hospitalised. Cases were defined as people living in Norway, with laboratory-confirmed infection with S. Agbeni ST2009 and cluster type (CT)2489, reported between 31 December 2018 and 30 March 2019. We conducted a case–control study, with three controls per case (matched by age, sex and municipality), using the Norwegian National Registry. Cases were more likely to have consumed a commercial mix of dried exotic fruits than controls (cases = 8, controls = 31; odds ratio: 50; 95% confidence interval: 3–2,437). The outbreak strain was confirmed by whole genome sequencing (WGS) and was isolated from the fruit mix consumed by cases, resulting in withdrawal from the market on 6 March 2019.The fruit mix consisted of fruits from different countries and continents. It was packed in Italy and distributed to several European countries, including Norway. However, no other countries reported cases. This outbreak highlights that dried fruits could represent a risk in terms of food-borne infections, which is of particular concern in ready-to-eat products.     

Salmonella enterica Serovar Agbeni, British Columbia, Canada, 2011

TO THE EDITOR: Infection with Salmonella enterica serovar Agbeni is rare. In Canada, it was reported 8 times during 2000-2010 and never in the province of British Columbia (2011 population?4.5 million) (Public Health Agency of Canada, unpub. data). In June 2011, an outbreak of S. enterica ser. Agbeni affecting 8 persons was identified in British Columbia; pulsed-field gel electrophoresis patterns for all isolates were identical. Although no specific source was identified, 2 features were noted: 1) diagnosis through urine specimens for 3 of 8 persons and 2) a longer than typical incubation period for Salmonella spp. infection.