Va. woman’s death could be linked to salmonella outbreak

KINGSPORT, Tenn. -- A woman who died in a Weber City, Va., nursing home Nov. 24 might have fallen victim to the deadly salmonella typhimurium outbreak linked to tainted peanut butter products.

The Virginia Department of Health refuses to confirm her death as part of the national outbreak that has killed eight people, stating only that Southwest Virginia had a single salmonella-related fatality in November.

But state health officials in Tennessee, where the woman's illness was diagnosed, have said they were involved in a case in which a patient died and that the death was recorded as a Virginia resident.

Hester C. Fields, 78, of Kingsport, died at the Brian Health & Rehab Center in Weber City after suffering a high fever and diarrhea for nearly a week, according to medical reports provided to the Herald Courier.

Nursing home Administrator Vickie Cox refused to comment yesterday.

Salmonella typhimurium is most toxic with infants, the elderly and people with impaired immune systems.

Nationally, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that 501 people have fallen ill to the salmonella outbreak -- 20 in Virginia and 11 in Tennessee. The federal agency said two people have died in Virginia. No deaths have been reported in Tennessee.

On Nov. 26, two days after Hester Fields died, culture tests revealed that salmonella in her blood. Four days later, the Virginia Department of Health telephoned her daughter with the news that salmonella had been found. And on Jan. 9, the cultures from Field's blood revealed that the salmonella was from the deadly typhimurium strain, medical records indicate.

Officials have not confirmed whether the salmonella that killed Fields is the same strain as in the peanut butter case.

The FDA reports tracing the salmonella typhimurium strain responsible for the nationwide outbreaks to peanut butter and peanut butter paste manufactured by the Lynchburg-based Peanut Corporation of America.

According to a Washington Post report, the FDA now claims the company knowingly shipped contaminated products from its Blakely, Ga., plant on 12 different occasions in 2007 and 2008.

Yesterday, The Associated Press reported a government decision to open a criminal investigation into the Georgia facility.