EIGHT cases of salmonella, which are believed to be linked to the recent outbreak in Wales, have so far been reported in Lancashire and Cumbria.
Only one of the eight cases required hospital treatment.
So far 57 cases have been reported in the UK, and 36 of these have been in England.
Those affected range from an eight-month-old baby to an 87-year-old pensioner.
Nine people have so far been treated in hospital.
It is thought that the outbreak may have originated from cooked ham bought from independent butchers’ shops.
Experts from Public Health England (PHE) are working with Public Health Wales (PHW), the Food Standards Agency (FSA) and environmental health officers from several local authorities to trace the origins of the contaminated food.
Dr Bob Adak, head of the gastrointestinal diseases department at PHE, said: “Although the source of the outbreak has not been confirmed some of the cases have been linked to the consumption of cooked ham sold by a small number of independent butchers.
“Investigating outbreaks of foodborne illness is a complex process as people have to try and remember what they ate some weeks prior to becoming unwell.”
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