Michelle D. Anderson of Mlivereports that officials at Public Health – Muskegon County have identified 18 confirmed cases of Salmonella enteritidis in the region.  Muskegon County spokesperson Dori Peters said the outbreak has affected 16 residents in Muskegon County and two in Ottawa County.

Agency director Ken Kraus said on Friday, Nov. 15 that local investigators have linked 15 incidents to the Salmonella bacterium known as enteritidis since they began researching the source of the outbreak that emerged nearly three weeks ago.

Kraus said officials cannot yet make the call on what establishment or sources were involved until they receive state lab results expected next week.

“We are close to identifying a specific restaurant as the place of exposure,” Kraus said. “There is still some unclear information about any particular food item. We are also looking at individuals that were sick while they were in the facility.”