Prisons Report Illness Outbreak
County public health officials are investigating the cause of a contagious bacterial disease outbreak in eight state prisons, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.
The illness, campylobacteriosis, has affected more than 1,100 inmates, but officials believe the worst of the outbreak might be over, according to Terry Thornton, a spokesperson for the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitations.
The illness first was reported May 16 at a prison in San Joaquin County, where nearly 400 inmates got sick. Inmates at other prisons in Northern and Central California also contracted the illness. A small number of inmates received treatment at hospitals; the remainder were isolated and treated in their cells (San Francisco Chronicle, 5/23).