Cases of Notifiable and Reportable Diseases, Taiwan-Fukien Area May 1999 (2 May─29 May)

《Epidemiology Bulletin》 15卷6期 (1999/06) Pp. 104-111

https://doi.org/10.6525/TEB.199906_15(6).0002

並列摘要

On 2-4 February 1999, the Yulong Motor Company in Sanyi, the Tunghai University’s Office of Academic Affairs, and the Department of Psychiatry of the Changhua Christian Hospital had their year-end feast separately at one international class hotel in Taichung City. Many had developed food poisoning-like symptoms such as hausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, diarrhea, fever and chilliness after the dinner. This investigation applied the case-control method to study the staff and their depentdents of the Department of Psychiatry, of the Changhua Christian Hospital, and invited guests. The purpose was to investigate the causes of this series of food poisoning outbreaks and to identify the responsible food items and pathogenic agents.
Ages of the 112(47 males and 65 females) persons interviewed ranged from 1 to 67 years, with a median of 29 years. Ninety-four of them complained having symptoms such as diarrhea (84.0%), abdominal pain(74.5%), chilliness(72.3%), fever of 38℃ and above (68.1%). Headache/dizziness (68.1%), weakness (45.7%), nausea (37.2%), and vomiting (26.6%). Of them, 77 met the criteria of a case. Incubation periods ranged from 4 to 37 hours, with a median of 19 hours.
Statistical analysis showed that the wined chicken was associated with the outbreak. The odds ratio of those who had this dish was 3.83 times (95% confidence limit of 1.44-19.16) higher than that of those who did not. Common food items consumed by the staffs of the Yulong Motor Company, the Tunghai University, and the Changhua Christian Hospital were fried celery with jellyfish, lamb in jelly, and wined chicken. The wined chicken was the likely cause.
Furthermore, Salmonella bareilly was isolated in 80.1%(12/15),76.9%(10/13) and 78.6%(11/14) of the rectal swabs collected respectively from staffs of the Yulong Motor Company, the Tunghai University, and the Changhua Christian Hospital. The laboratory of the Changhua Christian Hospital also isolated Salmonella serotype 07 in 68.8% of their Psychiatry Department staff. Epidemiological information collected through questionnaire intervies of the victims showed that their distribution of symptoms and incubation periods corresponded to the characteristics of Salmonella infection. They all indicated that Salmonella bareilly was the pathogenic agent of the serial food poisoning outbreaks.