A total of 31 people have been affected so far by the salmonella typhimurium outbreak that broke out in Lanzarote two weeks ago, according to the Ministry of Health. Until now, only 14 cases had been confirmed. This department of the Government of the Canary Islands has also indicated to La Voz that the analyses carried out on the cheeses that were in the 'La Flor de Teguise' cheese factory when it was inspected have tested negative for the bacteria, although they are still investigating whether the focus could have been on a previous batch that had already been distributed.
The General Directorate of Public Health continues to investigate this poisoning, to try to find out the source of contamination, and is considering several possibilities. To this end, cheese samples have also been analyzed from some affected people who still had the product in their homes, as well as some retail establishments. The Ministry of Health is awaiting the results of these samples, which are 5 in total.
Regarding the number of people affected, although the number is now more than double the number known so far, the Ministry of Health points out that none of them are hospitalized. According to them, only the three minors who were already reported had to be admitted. And all three have already been discharged. They also point out that the Ministry has not been "informed" of any case after February 5, when the inspectors became aware of the outbreak and went to the cheese factory. This "does not mean that there cannot be any", they clarify, however, pointing out that there could be people who still had the product in their home and consumed it "after" that date. In this regard, it should be noted that the Ministry of Health did not make this outbreak public at the time and did not provide the name of the affected cheese factory once the issue became public, claiming that the results of the cheese analyses were not known. It did later report, however, that the "link" in all cases was the "consumption" of that same product.
The "epidemiological hypotheses" do not rule out the cheese factory
The negative results of the cheeses and the samples taken from the handlers, however, do not rule out that the origin is in the cheese factory. This result indicates that "at that time there was no cheese of those sampled with contamination, not that there had not been at any time", they point out from the press office.
According to what has been pointed out from this department, one of the "epidemiological hypotheses" that are being considered is that the bacteria was in a specific batch of cheese. Specifically, according to what they explain, it would be a batch that was produced between January 18 and 31 in La Flor de Teguise and that could have been completely distributed when the inspectors became aware of the outbreak and went to the facilities for the first time, on February 5. The analyses of the 5 pending samples will help to determine this.
The Ministry of Agriculture is also investigating
In addition, the cheese production process and its distribution chain are not the only things being investigated within the possible sources of this salmonella outbreak. According to what has been indicated by the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries of the Government of the Canary Islands has joined the investigations to inspect some facilities near the cheese factory.
Specifically, it would be a henhouse near La Flor de Teguise. According to what is pointed out by the Ministry of Health, another hypothesis is that the contamination came from that livestock establishment, "always through a handler". The Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries has indicated to La Voz that the General Directorate of Livestock is the one that has taken charge of the "study", of which it has not provided data for the moment. What they have confirmed is that this henhouse passed its last inspection last July.
