Jan. 7 (Bloomberg) -- Food tainted with the bacteria salmonella has caused an outbreak of food poisoning, making 388 people sick and sending about 70 of them to the hospital, U.S. health officials reported.

The outbreak has affected people in 42 states, said David Daigle, a spokesman for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, in a telephone interview today. The agency is working with state health authorities, the Food and Drug Administration and the U.S. Department of Agriculture to identify the source and track the outbreak.

In Ohio, 51 people have become ill since Oct. 10, and 12 of them had to be hospitalized, said Kristopher Weiss, a spokesman for the Ohio Department of Health. No cases have been reported there since Dec. 12, Weiss said in a telephone interview today. Ohio had the second-highest number of people affected, he said. He didn’t know which state had a greater number.

Another outbreak of salmonella sickened more than 1,400 people from April through August last year, the largest outbreak of food poisoning in more than a decade. The CDC later identified jalapeno peppers as a “major cause” of the outbreak.

Salmonella typically causes diarrhea, stomach cramps and vomiting, which usually begins 12 to 72 hours after infection and usually clears up within 4 to 7 days, Weiss said. The most common causes are poultry, produce, raw milk and cheese that carry the bacteria, said Daigle of the CDC.

To contact the reporter on this story: Rob Waters in San Francisco at rwaters5@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: January 7, 2009 17:16 EST