Overview
- Health officials report 64 infections and 20 hospitalizations with no deaths, with illnesses occurring from late June through late November.
- Cases are concentrated in the Northeast, including 10 in Pennsylvania and 7 in New York, with additional reports in states such as Texas and South Carolina.
- CDC and FDA have not identified a common harvest area or distributor, and the investigation remains active without a recall.
- Of 27 people interviewed, 20 reported eating raw oysters, with genetic testing via PulseNet linking patient samples to a closely related Salmonella Telelkebir strain.
- CDC advises eating only cooked oysters because condiments like lemon juice or hot sauce do not kill bacteria, while South Carolina growers argue the federal warning was premature and economically harmful.