With the recent outbreak of Salmonella Montevideo, which has sickened 184 people in 38 states, we have been fielding calls from people who want to know: How common is Salmonella Montevideo?

To answer this question, one must first understand that every year in the United States, there are over 30,000 laboratory confirmed cases of salmonella illness.   To be considered a confirmed case, a person must provide a stool, urine, or blood sample that tests positive for salmonella.

In the Salmonella species, there are over 2500 different known types - or more accurately – serotypes of salmonella.   Three of those serotypes – Typhimurium, Enteriditis, and Newport – account for almost half of all reported illnesses.  Below is a chart of the top 30, the number of reported cases, and their respective percentages of the known salmonella illnesses during the year 2005.

As you can see, Salmonella Montevideo cracks the top ten.  More specifically, it ranks as the 7th most common serotype found in the United States, and accounts for about 2.2.% of all confirmed Salmonella illnesses.