CDC: Food Poisoning Hits Participants in U.S. Transplant Games

Some 141 people from 32 states -- including 48 transplant recipients -- became ill during or after the U.S. Transplant Games June 26 to 29 at Walt Disney's Wide World of Sports Complex in Orlando, with many of them suffering from suspected food poisoning.

The Centers for Disease Control said it had confirmed three cases of Salmonella infection among the 1,500 transplant recipients and 3,500 others who attended the games, and had identified diced roma tomatoes as the source of the outbreak.

"The number of ill persons in this outbreak is probably much larger than what has been identified in the surveyed Transplant Games population," the CDC said in its Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

The type of salmonella identified in the outbreak, Javaina, causes an illness that usually resolves on its own in otherwise healthy people within a couple days. But in transplant recipients, the illness can be more serious and antibiotics are usually required.

"Transplant recipients have impaired immune systems and are at increased risk for more severe illness if they become infected with Salmonella and are at increased risk for complications of infection," said Dr. Padmini Srikantiah, the CDC's foodborne diseases expert.

"These complications may only present weeks to even months after the initial exposure. Transplant patients are also at increased risk for relapse of Salmonella infection," she added.

Dan Szymanski, 42, a kidney-pancreas transplant recipient, was hospitalized for several days in St. Paul, MN and treated with antibiotics. His illness was diagnosed during his hospitalization and health officials began to see a bigger outbreak.

Szymanski said the only tomatoes he could remember eating at the Transplant Games had been in a taco salad.

The National Kidney Foundation, sponsor of the games, sent a letter July 31 to transplant recipients and physicians alerting them to the outbreak.