Salmonella outbreak at the Intercontinental Hotel in Adelaide
At least 17 people, including nine who were hospitalised, were struck by salmonella after eating at the Hotel Intercontinental in Adelaide.
Guests were struck down after eating the popular buffet breakfast spread at the Riverside Restaurant.
The SA Health Department is now investigating.
“We have 17 confirmed cases of food poisoning including nine hospitalisations related to this case,” an SA Health spokesman told the Adelaide Advertiser.
InterContinental Adelaide general manager Colin McCandless told the Advertiser that the hotel was now following “investigation protocol”.
“As soon as we were aware that incidents were happening, we informed the Adelaide City Council immediately and also SA Health,” Mr McCandless told the newspaper.
“They are the ones leading the investigation to assist us in determining the cause.
“Wellbeing of our guests is our highest priority. We’ve maintained close contact with any guests who have advised us they are not feeling well.”
He stressed that it was “absolutely safe” to eat at the hotel.
At this stage it isn’t clear exactly how many people were struck down by salmonella.
Questioned by the Adelaide Advertiser, Adelaide City Council associate director, customer, Vanessa Godden was unable to confirm if up to 45 people had fallen ill.
One of the people stricken with salmonella was a mother-of-three.
The woman, who wished to remain anonymous, reportedly consumed the food and then experienced symptoms after two days.
“I had abdominal pain, diarrhoea, a headache and was fatigued — I’m still very fatigued,” the woman told the Sunday Mail.
I’ve been talking to Adelaide City Council and InterContinental and what I’ve been told on the phone is that the cause is likely to be eggs.
“The issue I have is they (the hotel and the council) know there are 400 people out there potentially infected with salmonella and they’re not actively notifying them.”
by Leon Gettler, August 8th 2016
