- 期刊
A Staphylococcus aureus Food Poisoning Outbreak in Four Junior High Schools, Taichung County
並列摘要
On March 18, 1997, 1,948 teachers and students of four junior high schools in Taichung county, after having had boxed lunch prepared by food factory X of Taichung city, had developed a large scale food poisoning outbreak. A retrospective cohort study was conducted and a structured questionnaire was used to interview teachers and students of the Junior High School A. Information on their- demographic backgrounds, food items eaten, symptoms, time of onset, and medical care was collected to identify the pathogenic agents, the food responsible, and the causes of the outbreak. Analysis of questionnaires collected from 362 students who had the boxed lunch showed that their clinical symptoms were (by order of percentage): abdominal pain 70.7%, watery diarrhea 68.8%, nausea 8.6%, vomiting 3.6%,fever 1.1 %, and others 3.6 %. Of them, 204 met the criteria of a case, giving an attack rate of 56.4%. Their incubation periods ranged from less than one hour to 6 hours, with a median of 3 hours and a mode of 2 hours. These findings indicated a Staphylococcus aureus infection. The Central Branch Laboratory of the National Institute of Preventive Medicine had succeeded in isolating Staphylococcus aureus in 45 of the rectal swabs collected from students and cooks. Among them, 12 were enterotoxin A-genic, 2 were B-genic, and 3 were C-genic. It was therefore concluded that Staphylococcus aureus was the pathogenic agent of the incident.