Officials Still Investigating Salmonella Outbreak

Two salmonella outbreaks at Pomona College appear to have ended but health officials were still trying to determine the cause.

About 120 people reported symptoms in the past two weeks and eight tested positive for the illness, Dr. Roshan Reporter, an epidemiologist with the Los Angeles County Department of Health, said.

“We believe it was some kind of contaminated food” that sparked the outbreaks, she said.

Health officials inspected and gave the school cafeteria facilities “a clean bill of health.” Tests on food workers were expected to take about 10 days, college spokesman Don Patterson said.

The college and its food contractor, Aramark Dining Services, were cooperating with the investigation, he said. The school is closed for summer but hosts programs by outside groups.

The first illnesses were reported about two weeks ago among high school students attending an Upward Bound live-in summer program on campus, Reporter said.

Last week, about 100 people reported becoming ill during the start of a two-week course by the Western Management School of the Credit Union National Assn.

A handful of people from both groups were hospitalized, mainly for treatment of dehydration, Reporter said.

Salmonella is a bacteria that causes infection of the intestines, typically resulting in diarrhea, cramps, headache, fever, vomiting and dehydration.