The salmonellosis outbreak at Masarykova základní škola in Újezd nad Lesy was a mass illness that affected users of the school canteen at one of Prague's primary schools in September 2026. According to the Prague public health authority (Hygienická stanice hlavního města Prahy, HSHMP), 363 people fell ill after lunches from the canteen, 50 were hospitalised and 22 had salmonellosis confirmed by laboratory tests; the hygienists described the situation as an epidemic [5]. On 21 September the canteen cooked with eggs past their minimum durability date [6]. The case led to the closure of the school and its kitchen, the hospitalisation of dozens of patients, intervention by the hygienists and a police inquiry [1][4][5].
Course of the outbreak
Parents of pupils at Masarykova základní škola began reporting that their children felt unwell early in the week of 21 September, describing cramps, diarrhoea and vomiting [2]. About 1,100 children attend the school. On Tuesday 22 September the hygienists had already recorded 250 infected people, with at least 240 children and ten adults suffering from digestive problems [1]. Martina Marešová, head of the HSHMP anti-epidemic department, called the situation an epidemic and remarked that in her long career in epidemiology she had not yet dealt with such a number of patients [3]. In thirteen children, mostly hospitalised with a severe course, a bacteriological stool examination confirmed salmonella infection; according to Marešová it is probable that the other patients also have salmonellosis, because the course of the illness is very similar in them [1][3]. By 25 September the number of ill people had, according to the hygienists, risen to 363 and the number of laboratory-confirmed cases to 22 [5].
Response of the ambulance service and hospitals
According to Karel Kirs, spokesman for the Prague ambulance service, 55 people from Újezd nad Lesy called the 155 emergency line because of digestive problems; 20 of these patients were taken to hospital, 24 were treated on the spot and left there, and the rest were given advice by telephone [2]. The municipal district Prague 21 pointed out that Nemocnice Na Bulovce had stopped admitting new patients because of the outbreak and that the capacity of Fakultní nemocnice Královské Vinohrady was almost full, while Nemocnice Motol and Thomayerova nemocnice continued to admit new patients [3].
Findings of the hygienists
The hygienists examined the eggs used to prepare lunch in the school canteen as a possible source of the infection. They could not take egg samples because the cooks had used them up, so the specific batch had to be traced with the supplier [2]. The hygienists found that on 21 September 2026 the canteen cooked with eggs past their minimum durability date, which had expired on 15 September [6]. According to the hygiene authority, all the ill people had eaten the lunch prepared that day in the school kitchen, from which food was also delivered to other facilities [5]. Ill people were recorded in the main school building, in the adjacent building, in two nursery schools and among seniors to whom a care service delivers meals [5][6].
Measures taken by the school and the hygienists
The second stage and the Montessori classes, where most of the ill were, were given a headteacher's day off on 23 September because of the outbreak; it was later extended to 24 and 25 September for all classes [1]. School head Libor Skala said that the school was in contact with the hygiene authority, which would investigate everything thoroughly, and that the school was following its instructions [2]. The school, including the kitchen and canteen, was fully disinfected by a specialist firm, which HSHMP director Vladimír Možíšek praised as a responsible step [1][2].
The kitchen was closed; the hygienists made its reopening conditional on disinfection of the premises, negative salmonellosis tests of the staff and a review of hygiene procedures [4][5]. After the measures taken, the hygiene authority saw no obstacle to reopening the school on Tuesday 29 September, with food for the main building and the nursery schools to be supplied by an external contractor [4]. The Česká školní inspekce stated that it had on record two complaints concerning the school that were unrelated to the outbreak [5]. HSHMP spokeswoman Petra Batók said that the results of laboratory analyses of raw materials taken from the school canteen were expected on 25 September [3]. HSHMP was also preparing a set of recommendations for the school and families, including an emphasis on hygiene at home, frequent hand washing with warm water and soap, and the use of disinfection to prevent the infection spreading among household members [2].
Police
According to Richard Hrdina, spokesman for the Prague police, detectives opened criminal proceedings on suspicion of negligently endangering health by defective food; if guilt were proved, the offence carries up to two years in prison. The police began looking into the matter on their own initiative after the hygiene authority's report was published [4][6].
Salmonellosis and infection statistics in the Czech Republic
According to the National Institute of Public Health (Státní zdravotní ústav, SZÚ), salmonellosis is most often contracted from contaminated food, especially eggs, insufficiently heat-treated meat, frozen products with unpasteurised eggs (for example ice cream) or unpasteurised milk, and the incubation period is 13 to 36 hours [2]. According to the SZÚ, the illness most often shows as diarrhoea, fever up to 39 °C, cramps and abdominal pain, and vomiting lasting at most a week; at-risk groups are children under three months, older people and pregnant women [2].
Salmonellosis is among the infections that doctors must report to the SZÚ. By the end of August 2026 more than 4,000 cases had been recorded in Czechia, several hundred more than in the same period of the previous year, of which 334 were in Prague [2]. The number of reported cases in 2026 rose every month, from 28 cases in January to 68 in August [2]. Before 2020 more than ten thousand cases of salmonellosis were usually reported in Czechia per year, in 2022 to 2024 around 7,000, and in 2025 a total of 5,729 cases [2].
Related articles: Újezd nad Lesy
Chronology
- — Police began examining the serving of food made from expired eggs at a school in Prague, where salmonellosis had appeared among pupils. Pražský deník ČTK / České noviny
- — Health inspectors confirmed salmonella in pupils of the primary school in Újezd nad Lesy. ČT24 iDNES.cz, Praha
Pages linking here
Sources
- ČT24 — 24 September 2026
- iDNES.cz, Praha — 23 September 2026
- Pražský deník — 24 September 2026
- Pražský deník — 25 September 2026
- ČTK / České noviny — 25 September 2026
- Deník.cz — 25 September 2026