Salmonella toll at 286 as kids hit the hardest

By Tillie Fong, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Originally published 09:40 a.m., March 27, 2008
Updated 12:13 a.m., March 28, 2008

The number of salmonella cases in Alamosa reached nearly 300 Thursday, with kids being hit the hardest.

As of Thursday night, a total of 286 cases have been reported, with 73 confirmed and 11 hospitalizations. No deaths have occurred.

The bacteria in Alamosa's city water supply is affecting children the most. Although the victims' ages range from 3 weeks to 89 years, the median age is 11.

Eleven federal emergency workers were on the ground in Alamosa on Thursday, said Jacki Kelley, public information officer for the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office on assignment to the incident management team in Alamosa.

Six of them arrived on Tuesday, she said. An additional five workers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, including three epidemiologists, arrived on Wednesday, she said.

This information differed from an earlier report by Jim Shires, spokesman for the Alamosa command center, who said late Wednesday that no federal workers had shown up.

By Thursday night, the command center was agreeing with the federal count of 11 personnel on the ground.

Kelley said that two employees from the Federal Emergency Management Agency had shadowed the professionals on the ground Thursday, but were not part of the operations.

"FEMA is not involved," she said, adding "it's not due to reluctance or refusal on their part."

The arrival of the federal officials means that the number of National Guardsmen can be drawn down, possibly starting as early as today.

"Things are going very well," said Kelley.

"So we can relieve some of their duties."

There have been 21 members of the National Guard on site, but about half are expected to go home soon.

Between Sunday and Thursday, a total of 519 volunteers have put in more than 2,200 hours helping out the town in dealing with the crisis, officials said.

Currently, the town is running a bill of $30,000 to $33,000 a day for all the people working on dealing with the crisis.

"The effort here is massive," said Kelley.

Late Thursday night, all of Alamosa was under the "red stage" of the super-chlorination process, which means that water is unfit to use for anything except to flush toilets.

A total of 250 residents decided to take up the offer of free showers from a nearby Comfort Inn, which has its own water supply.

It was unknown late Thursday how long it would take before neighborhoods can move into the "yellow phase," in which limited showers and baths are allowed, but still no consumption.

"We want to change to the next stage as quickly as possible but we also want to do it as safely as possible," said Kelley. "That's not going to be tomorrow."

On Thursday, 17,516 gallons of water were distributed at the three main water sites: the old Kmart parking lot, Boyd Park and the San Luis Valley Regional Medical Center.

Officials were relieved when many of the residents brought their own containers to fill with water.

The cause of the salmonella contamination is still unknown.

"It's still under investigation," said Kelley.

"It's a lengthy process. We hope to find out when, where and what, but based on the history of the incident, we may never be able to find an exact cause, but there's no one here that doesn't want those answers."

Still, Kelley said she was impressed with the townspeople's attitude in dealing with the problems.

"This really an incredible community," she said.

"They're extremely resilient. When you see them around town, passing fliers, or meeting them at the water distribution points, they have a great attitude."

Staff writer Ann Imse contributed to this report.