Salmonella Sickens Cook Co. Jail Inmates: Sheriff's Office

CHICAGO, IL — Five cases of salmonella infection have been confirmed after more than 50 inmates in the Cook County Jail's medium security wing became sick with gastrointestinal symptoms last week, according to the Cook County Sheriff's Office. At least two inmates had to be taken to the hospital because of the severity of their symptoms, the agency said in a statement Tuesday.

The sheriff's office and local health officials — including those from Cook County Health and Hospitals System and the Cook County Department of Facilities Management — are trying to determine what caused 54 inmates in the jail's Division XI to become sick over the weekend. Salmonella is a bacteria that can contaminate food, but officials haven't identified the source of it that could've made the inmates ill, authorities said.

Two inmates became so sick that they needed to be hospitalized for their symptoms, the sheriff's office said. One of the inmates already was treated and returned to jail, and the other is expected to be released from the hospital Tuesday.

Cook County Jail's Division XI houses about 1,400 inmates, according to the sheriff's office.

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