A Snohomish County teen was hospitalized after eating Cold Stone Creamery ice cream that may have been tainted with a rare strain of salmonella.

The teen is thought to be the only person in Snohomish County hospitalized by the food-borne illness, although investigations are continuing, said Donn Moyer, spokesman for the state's public health agency. The teen has since been released from the hospital.

A second pre-teen girl from Snohomish County was not hospitalized but is thought to have been sickened by salmonella.

The local cases are among a total of five people in the state and 15 in the nation. Three of the Washington cases have been tied to eating cake-batter ice cream at Cold Stone stores. The company is pulling the flavor from the shelves of its 1,000 stores nationally, said Dr. Jo Hofmann, state epidemiologist for communicable disease.