By Eloise Aguiar
Advertiser Windward Bureau
A surge in salmonella cases in January sent the state Department of Health searching for answers to head off a potential public health threat.
The department documented 21 cases of salmonellosis infection in Hawai‘i between Jan. 24 and Feb. 3, surpassing the total for all of last year when there were 20 cases, said Janice Okubo, department spokeswoman.
The numbers have declined since Feb. 3 and are returning to normal, Okubo said, but the state is investigating all 21 cases, 20 of which occurred on O‘ahu.
"Because the situation seems to be under control, because the numbers are declining and returning to baseline levels the situation doesn’t seem to be a public health threat," she said.
As many as half of the cases were from Windward O‘ahu, including infection of a 10-year-old girl from ‘Aikahi Elementary School.
Salmonellosis is an infection of the intestines caused by eating food or drinking water contaminated by feces containing the salmonella bacteria. It can be contracted from salmonella-carrying animals, including pet turtles, chicks, dogs, cats and rodents, as well as from the stool of an infected person, the department said.
Symptoms include sudden onset of headache, stomach pain, diarrhea, low-grade fever and occasionally, vomiting.
Dennis Olkowski said his daughter, an ‘Aikahi student, came down with symptoms about Jan. 12. Her illness originally was diagnosed as a virus, he said, but subsequent tests revealed salmonella.
His wife, an ‘Aikahi teacher, said many other students were ill about that time but were believed to have had a virus.
Calls to ‘Aikahi Elementary were not returned.
Correction: The spike in reports of salmonellosis infection on O‘ahu occurred between Jan. 24 and Feb. 3. The wrong dates were listed yesterday in a previous version of this story.
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