A rare and virulent form of salmonella sickened more than 20 members of the Navajo Nation who live in New Mexico, officials said.

Five cases of Saintpaul poisoning showed up the Northern Navajo Medical Clinic in Shiprock before Memorial Day. That raised alarms among the Indian Health Service and the New Mexico Department of Health.

Officials eventually concluded that tomatoes caused the outbreak. But no one has been able to pinpoint the exact source.

"I'm not sure we're ever going to know why such a high proportion of cases come from the Navajo reservation," Paul Ettestad, the state's epidemiologist, told The Albuquerque Journal.

The outbreak eventually spread to more than a dozen states.

Get the Story:
Tomato Link Found in N.M. (The Albuquerque Journal 6/20)

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