SALMONELLA Ohio investigates 13 infections

Two of the possible Sheetz salmonella cases are in Mahoning County.
STAFF/WIRE REPORT
AKRON -- Health officials are investigating 13 cases of salmonella in Ohioans who say they ate at Sheetz convenience stores to see whether the illness is linked to an outbreak at the stores in Pennsylvania.
Ohio Department of Health spokesman Kristopher Weiss said Wednesday that only two of the 13 cases had the same bacterial strain, known as javiana, that's being investigated in Pennsylvania. More testing is being done to try to find out more information, Weiss said.
Four of Ohio's cases are in Stark County, three in Summit County, two in Mahoning County and one each in Medina, Cuyahoga, Lorain and Tuscarawas counties.
Mahoning County cases
According to the Ohio Disease Reporting System, three salmonella cases have been reported in Mahoning County since the Sheetz outbreak, said Matthew Stefanak, county health commissioner.
One is a 13-year-old boy, whose potential exposure to Sheetz foods is still under investigation, and one is a 60-year-old man who ate at multiple locations, including Sheetz.
Stefanak said both of those patients reported eating food from a Sheetz along Interstate 80 in Pennsylvania.
The third is a 66-year-old female, who reported her illness to the Youngstown City Health District but reported no history of consuming Sheetz foods, Stefanak said.
Pennsylvania health officials now report that a total of 130 Pennsylvanians have been affected from 31 of the state's 67 counties.
Mercer, Lawrence, Venango and Beaver have all had confirmed salmonella cases, all fewer than five each. Butler County has had more than five, the Pennsylvania Department of Health reported Wednesday.
The Food and Drug Administration reported additional illnesses in Maryland and West Virginia.
Sheetz, based in Altoona, Pa., pulled all tomatoes and lettuce from its 300-plus stores in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Ohio, West Virginia, Virginia and North Carolina after the salmonella cases were first reported last week. The stores sanitized their deli areas, switched suppliers and brought in new produce.
Salmonella, generally spread through contaminated food or water, causes diarrhea, fever and cramps for as many as three days.
Tracing the source
"There is a lot of salmonella around," said Dr. Marguerite Erme, head of epidemiology at the Akron Health Department. "Just because you've eaten at Sheetz, that doesn't mean that eating at Sheetz caused the illness."
The local health departments are doing extensive interviews with those who were infected, as well as with acquaintances who may have eaten at Sheetz without getting sick.
The interviews will be forwarded to the Pennsylvania Department of Health and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which are leading the investigation into the outbreak.
Pennsylvania officials had believed that tainted tomatoes or lettuce or both were to blame for the illnesses because those who got sick ate those foods and because they ingested a strain of salmonella usually found on produce.
Wheeling, W.Va.-based Coronet Foods, which supplied the tomatoes, said tests turned up a different strain of salmonella than that identified in those who have been sick.