Midwest Poultry Services has recalled 1.6 million cartons of eggs, and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a food-safety alert about a 98-case Salmonella outbreak in 17 states.

The CDC, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and public health authorities are investigating the outbreak, which has led to 26 hospitalizations. Among the 44 patients interviewed, 91% said they ate eggs before symptom onset. The FDA traced the cases to Midwest Poultry Services.

The recalled brown cage-free eggs and white eggs were produced in Texas and shipped to food-service and retail outlets in Texas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana, with best-by dates of June 6 to August 17. 

The eggs were available to consumers at Kroger stores in Texas and Louisiana and Brookshire grocery stores in Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, and Mississippi. Brand names included Kroger, Simple Truth, Brookshire's, Cal-Maine, and Country Morning.

In its recall notice, Midwest Poultry Services said sample testing on two Texas farms revealed the presence of Salmonella enteritidis. Whole-genome sequencing by the company’s third-party lab matched the sample isolates to the outbreak strain.

Consumers who still have the eggs should discard them or return them to the place of purchase and wash any surfaces that may have contacted the eggs using hot, soapy water or a dishwasher.

The first volunteer has been vaccinated in a phase 1 trial of an investigational vaccine that targets the Bundibugyo virus.

The trial is assessing the safety and immune response of ChAdOx1 BDBV in 50 healthy volunteers aged 18 to 55 years. The vaccine was developed by researchers with the Oxford Vaccine Group, which is conducting the trial with support from the Serum Institute of India and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness.

“This is an important milestone for the trial, and marks the next phase in our multinational collaborative journey to develop a Bundibugyo ebolavirus vaccine,” Oxford Vaccine Group associate director and chief trial investigator Katrina Pollock, PhD, said in a University of Oxford press release.

The Bundibugyo virus, one of six Ebola known viruses, is the cause of the current outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), which currently stands at 3,200 confirmed cases and 1,405 deaths and is the fastest-growing Ebola outbreak on record. There are no licensed vaccines or treatments for Bundibugyo. A trial assessing two treatments began earlier this month in DRC.

Meanwhile, more healthcare workers in DRC have gone on strike, the Associated Press reports. The latest strike is at the Elikya Ebola Treatment Center in Ituri, the province at the center of the outbreak.

Workers at the treatment center said they had authorized a strike to protest two months of unpaid bonuses.

"We need to be paid, because in the meantime the disease is spreading at the treatment center," one of the striking healthcare workers told the AP.

According to the World Health Organization, at least 119 healthcare workers in DRC have been infected since the beginning of the outbreak.