HOPKINSVILLE, KY (WFIE) -
There's been a spike in salmonella cases in Hopkins County. Some people have even been sent to the hospital.
Officials at the Health Department say they're looking to see if fruit is the culprit.
Hopkins County Officials say they've seen an increase in salmonella cases recently, and they say the trend is being traced back to melons.
Within the last month, Hopkins County Health Department Officials have confirmed 10 cases of salmonella throughout the county.
"Some years, we don't have but two or three salmonella cases reported in a whole year, so we definitely, our radars went up and we said we need to look into this further," said Health Department Director of Nursing Denise Beach.
In addition to those 10, Tammy Merril with the Regional Medical Center says four more patients from outside the county are dealing with this infection.
"Of those 14, 12 have been admitted to the hospital and three of those have been in our Critical Care Unit."
Merrill says there's likely more cases throughout the area, because according to the CDC, the actual number of infections may be 29 or more times greater. It all depends on how severe the symptoms are.
"They're coming in with signs and symptoms of diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, and of course that leads, that can often lead to dehydration," Merril noted.
So, what's causing this sudden trend? Beach says the first thing they did was check the food history of all the patients.
"Right now, the source of this investigation looks like it potentially could be melons," said beach. "We've narrowed it down to watermelons and cantaloupes, and it's looking a little more like cantaloupes at this point."
Beach says tests were sent to the state to confirm their findings, but in the meantime, she recommends good hygiene will help prevent the spread of this infection. That includes washing your hands after the bathroom and properly cleaning your food.
"With cantaloupes, they need to actually take a vegetable brush and really give them a good cleaning and drying before they slice into them."
The health department hopes to hear back from the state in the next week on whether or not these cases are related.
From there, they can continue their investigation into where the source of the infection is coming from.
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The health department hopes to hear back from the state in the next week on whether or not these cases are related.
