New Hampshire health officials are investigating what caused more than 50 middle school students to become infected with Salmonella while at an overnight camp near North Conway, New Hampshire.

The Eagle-Tribune newspaper quoted Dr. Jose Montero, the state's director of public health, as saying that a team of investigators has started its probe by reviewing the facility's practices, interviewing workers and interviewing students. But Montero said the cause may never be known.

"Sometimes we don't know,'' he told the newspaper. "If we are looking at a food event and the kids became ill on Thursday, then the food is long gone by now.''

The students sickened in the outbreak attend Woodbury Middle School, part of the Salem School District. Superintendent Michael Delahanty told the Eagle-Tribune that one, and possibly two, of the ill students were hospitalized.

All the students infected attended Stone Environmental School last week, an overnight camp. Students had symptoms including vomiting, diarrhea and high fever. The paper said that at least 69 students who attended the camp were out sick on Tuesday from Woodbury Middle School.

Dave Freese, director of the environmental school, said another group of children from a different school district is scheduled to attend the camp next week.

National food safety law firm PritzkerOlsen, P.A., is representing Salmonella victims around the country and is involved in virtually all major outbreaks of foodborne illness. The firm's clients currently include the families of three women who died separately in the peanut product Salmonella outbreak caused by Peanut Corp. of America. The son of one of the women killed in the outbreak testified before Congress earlier this year about the need to increase food safety.

To contact a Salmonella lawyer at PritzkerOlsen, call 1-888-377-8900 (toll free) or complete a free online case consultation.

Labels: New Hampshire, salmonella lawyer