Oyster
The Center for Disease Control (CDC) is working with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Texas Department of State Health Services, along with other state and local officials to investigate a multistate norovirus outbreak linked to raw oysters from harvest area TX 1, Galveston Bay, Texas.
The Texas Department of State Health Services and the Florida Department of Health notified the FDA of illnesses associated with eating raw oysters harvested from TX 1, Galveston Bay, Texas. On December 8, 2022, the Texas Department of State Health Services issued a recall on all oysters harvested between 11/17/2022 and 12/7/2022 from harvest area TX 1, Galveston Bay, Texas. They also informed the Interstate Shellfish Sanitation Conference who notified other member states. This resulted in other states initiating recall measures consistent with the Interstate Shellfish Sanitation Conference agreement.
As of December 20, 2022, 298 norovirus illnesses have been reported from 8 states. CDC is working with state and local partners to determine a more accurate number of illnesses in this outbreak and will update this number as more information is gathered.
Norovirus is the leading cause of foodborne illness in the United States. However, state, local, and territorial health departments are not required to report individual cases of norovirus illness to a national surveillance system. That’s why we may not know about many cases, especially if people do not go to a doctor’s office or hospital. Each year, there are about 2,500 reported norovirus outbreaks in the United States. Norovirus outbreaks occur throughout the year but are most common from November to April.
State and local public health officials are interviewing people about the foods they ate a day to four days before they got sick. In interviews, many of the sick people reported eating raw oysters.
State and local officials have collected information about the source of oysters from restaurants where sick people ate. FDA has confirmed that potentially contaminated raw oysters were harvested in area TX 1, Galveston Bay, Texas. The FDA and the states are conducting a trace forward investigation to determine where the raw oysters were distributed and to ensure they’re removed from the food supply.
The Mississippi State Department of Health is participating in the investigation of a multistate outbreak of norovirus linked to raw oysters from Texas. So far, at least nine cases have been reported in the state linked to raw oysters distributed to Mississippi restaurants. Additional cases may be identified as the investigation continues.
Restaurants and food retailers should not serve raw oysters from harvest area TX 1, Galveston Bay, Texas, harvested from 11/17/2022 to 12/7/2022, and consumers should not eat raw oysters from these areas. If you have oysters at home from the areas listed, throw them away. Norovirus infection can cause an inflammation of the stomach and intestines. The most common symptoms are diarrhea, vomiting, nausea and stomach pain.
