Oregon Public Broadcasting

The number of Oregon cases of Salmonella related to infected peanut butter products has grown to nine.  As Pete Springer reports, health officials are expecting even more infections over the coming months.

Dr. Bill Keene is tracking the Salmonella outbreak for the Oregon Health Division.

He says it can take public health officials a couple of weeks to investigate and confirm cases of the illness.

Bill Keene: “So this is not reflecting people getting exposed eating food in the last few days, it’s people eating contaminated food in late December or early January.”

Keene says the list of recalled food products continues to grow almost daily.

Most of the recalled peanut butter products have been removed from grocery stores, but Keene suspects many people still have infected food at home.

Bill Keene: “Unfortunately, we’re gonna see a trickle of cases coming in for sometime, for months, in Oregon and around the country.”

The outbreak has been linked Salmonella found at a peanut butter and peanut paste processor in Georgia.

Nearly five hundred people nationally have become sick due to the outbreak.

Six have died.