The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is working with public health officials across the country and the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service to investigate an outbreak of antibiotic-resistant Salmonella Heidelberg infections linked to eating ground turkey. So far there has been one death among the 77 illnesses reported in 26 states.

In response to an uptick in illnesses, FSIS issued a public health alert Friday warning consumers to use caution and thoroughly cook ground turkey, a broad and unusual move for the agency, which hasn't yet named a manufacturer or announced a recall.
 
Federal public health authorities said Monday in an update they are using DNA "fingerprints" of Salmonella bacteria obtained through diagnostic testing with pulsed-field gel electrophoresis, or PFGE, to identify cases of illness that may be part of the outbreak.

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