A waterborne<i>Salmonella typhimurium</i>outbreak in Gideon, Missouri: Results from a field investigation

Abstract

A waterborne disease outbreak associated with Salmonella typhimurium was identified in Gideon, Missouri (population 1104), a town in southeastern Missouri (USA) in December, 1993. It was estimated by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that approximately 44% of the city residents developed gastroenteritis during the outbreak. Data from the field investigation was used in a computer program to simulate operations in the water system and to implicate the source of contamination as bird feces in one of the elevated storage tanks.