ST. LOUIS, June 10 (UPI) -- St. Louis Children's Hospital in Missouri has widened its salmonella dragnet to include all of the Washington University Medical Center.
Twenty-seven people including one employee of Barnes-Jewish Hospital, located next door to the children's hospital, have come down with salmonella.
The St. Louis Health Department informed St. Louis Children's Hospital Friday three of its employees had contracted the bacterial illness which usually causes abdominal cramps, fever and diarrhea.
Dr. Alexis Elward, acting director of infection control for Children's, told the St.Louis Post-Dispatch tests had confirmed the illness in 22 health care workers and five patients, four of whom have been discharged.
Elward said the hospital had yet to locate a source of the outbreak but doubted it originated with a patient.
A spokeswoman for Barnes-Jewish Hospital said its 9,000 employees were asked to report salmonella symptoms and 38 had.
