Tap water tainted with salmonella has sickened nearly 140 people in Alamosa, a small town in Colorado, Xinhua quoted health officials as confirming. Among those infected, seven have been hospitalized for treatment, authorities said. The incident prompted Colorado Governor Bill Ritter to declare an emergency, activate the National Guard and provide as much as 300,000 U.S. dollars for response efforts. The city and county have also declared emergencies as officials scrambled to provide safe water and disinfect the system with chlorine. An analysis indicated the municipal water system in Alamosa is the source of the bacterial outbreak, as suspected, said Ned Calonge, chief medical officer for the state health department. As of Friday, 138 cases of salmonella linked to the outbreak had been reported in people from infancy to age 89, of which 47 were confirmed by lab testing, Calonge said. The conditions of those hospitalized weren't released. It remained unknown how the system was contaminated. Possibilities include a compromise in a storage tank or cross-contamination with a sewage line, Calonge said. It could be three more weeks before residents of the southern Colorado town can drink water straight from the tap, according to the state health department. Symptoms of salmonella include diarrhea, fever and stomach cramps that usually go away within a week, although same cases may require hospitalization.
