On 8 April 2011, the Communicable Disease Prevention and Control Unit (CDPCU) of the Victorian Department of Health was advised that three adolescents from the same family had been admitted to a metropolitan hospital for treatment of dehydration secondary to diarrhoea. Other symptoms included fever and vomiting. Initial enquires suggested that the adolescents may have become infected after eating fried eggs for breakfast at their aunt’s home over three consecutive days, or dinner at a Chinese restaurant. Six days later two more notifications of salmonellosis were received by CDPCU; both cases had eaten at the same Chinese restaurant. Also on this day, the Department was notified that Salmonella spp. was isolated from two of the original adolescent’s faecal specimens.

An investigation was initiated to characterise the outbreak, identify the source and possible cause of the infection and to prevent ongoing transmission of the infection.