Cancer Patient’s Death Connected To Salmonella Outbreak

HOUSTON (AP) – Federal and state officials Tuesday would not link the death of a Houston cancer patient sickened by salmonella to the multistate food poisoning outbreak from raw tomatoes.

Lola Russell, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, said there have still been no fatalities associated with the salmonella saintpaul strain found in raw tomatoes.

Emily Palmer with the Texas health department said the state was listing no deaths related to the salmonella outbreak.

Last week’s death of Raul Rivera, a 67-year-old lymphoma patient, has been officially attributed to his cancer, said Houston health department spokeswoman Kathy Barton.

However, health officials have confirmed that Rivera had the bacterial infection, Barton said.

Barton said the Houston health department had earlier issued an advisory warning that salmonella poisoning is extremely dangerous for infants, the elderly, cancer patients and others with a depressed immune system.

State and federal health officials are investigating the source of Rivera’s infection.

Barbara Rivera told the Houston Chronicle that her husband was hospitalized after eating pico de gallo, a tomato-based condiment, at a Mexican restaurant in late May while celebrating good news about his cancer treatment.

Raul Rivera began suffering nausea and diarrhea two days later, she told the newspaper. He died Wednesday.

Restaurants and grocery stores across the U.S., including McDonald’s and Wal-Mart, have halted sales of some raw tomatoes because of a multistate salmonella outbreak.

The CDC has said that since mid-April, 167 people infected with salmonella with the same “genetic fingerprint” have been identified. At least 23 people have been hospitalized, and no deaths have been officially reported.

The Food and Drug Administration warned consumers in New Mexico and Texas as early as June 3 about the outbreak. Most of the salmonella cases have been clustered in New Mexico and Texas, California Tomato Farmers President Ed Beckman said.

Food and Drug Administration officials have said the salmonella causing the outbreak is a very unusual type called salmonella saintpaul, the same kind found in Raul Rivera.

Barbara Rivera said her husband was treated at home for several days with pain relievers and liquids. He was admitted to a hospital six days after the meal.

Four other family members who also at the pico de gallo became ill, Barbara Rivera said, but didn’t require hospitalization.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)