A 55-year-old Minnesota man who became sick on a cruise ship in the Caribbean almost died from a rare form of Salmonella.

The victim is represented by national food safety law firm PritzkerOlsen, P.A., which wants to hear from other passengers who were made ill on the ship by the same Salmonella Oranienburg.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is investigating and the Minnesota Department of Health is certain that at least one other Minnesotan on the same cruise was made ill by the organism.

The cruise ship departed Miami on February 15 and returned there March 1. If you, a friend or a loved one was on the ship and suffered an illness later identified as Salmonella Oranienburg, we would very much like to speak with you. Please contact Fred Pritzker at 1-888-377-8900 (toll free) or by email at fhp@pritzkerlaw.com.

The Minnesota Department of Health, one of the best public health departments in the United States, first reported the outbreak in its March 23, 2009, edition of Bug Bytes. Here is that report:

Anchors Aweigh

Last week we noticed two Minnesota Salmonella Oranienburg cases that matched by PFGE. As usual, we immediately contacted and interviewed both cases, one being still hospitalized. Both cases had a history of recent travel on the same cruise ship that left a Florida port on February 15 to the Caribbean.

One of the cases is an adult female from the Twin Cities who flew to Florida and boarded the cruise the same day. her onset of illness began the second day of the cruise. She had called the cruise line to report her illness and she was told there were other illnesses reported.

The second case is an adult male from outstate Minnesota. He had bacteremia. He traveled to Minneapolis on February 13, stayed at a hotel near the airport, flew to Florida the next day, stayed at a hotel and then on the next day boarded the same cruise as the first case. He had onset of illness five days into the cruise. He had three travel companions, and two also became ill but no specimens were taken for bacterial culture.

We notified other states and late last Friday night received word from a New England state that they had a PFGE-matched Salmonella Oranienburg case which had been interviewed and had also been on the same cruise; that person also had an ill travel companion.

Labels: minnesota salmonella lawyer, Salmonella Litchfield