Forty-seven more people have been sickened by salmonella that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says is linked to kratom, bringing the total number of infections to 87.
Kratom is an herbal supplement that can be smoked, sipped in tea, or taken as tablets. People who take it have said that it helps relieve chronic pain and depression, and it can work as a replacement for opioids. Some people take it for its stimulating effects.
The latest links to salmonella infections have spread across eight more states, to 35, since the last update from the CDC on March 2. No one has died after being infected by the virus, which causes vomiting and diarrhea, but 27 people have been hospitalized.
But not all people who became ill reported that they had taken kratom. According to an investigation by the Food and Drug Administration, 40 of 55 people who had been asked about kratom during interviews with health officials said that they had consumed it before getting sick.
The FDA and CDC have drawn from several sources to arrive at their conclusion that the kratom had been tainted with salmonella and say it is possible that several distributors have been affected.
The CDC this year detected salmonella in leftover kratom powder from people who had become sick in North Dakota and Utah, bought on the websites soapkorner.com and kratoma.com. On March 9, PDX Aromatics cooperated with the FDA to recall kratom-containing powder products after California health officials identified salmonella in one of their items. The FDA tested various products sold on the Internet and found that three samples tested positive for salmonella.
CDC has recommended that people “not consume any brand of kratom in any form because the source of salmonella contamination has not been identified.”
Kratom is legal in the U.S. and has not been scheduled as a drug by the Drug Enforcement Administration.
The FDA has advocated for people not to take kratom at all, and has published studies detailing deaths associated with its use. Supporters of keeping the drug legal for research purposes note that the death certificates often mention the possible involvement other drugs.
The agencies are continuing to investigate the situation. No new illnesses have been reported since Feb. 24.
