Field epidemiological investigation on a foodborne outbreak caused by Staphylococcus aureus enterotoxin, in Hangzhou, 2014 / 中华流行病学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To identify the cause on a foodbome breakout in a university of Hangzhou in 2014.Methods Data on cases were gathered from the out-patient logs of the university affiliated or neighboring hospitals to describe the disease distribution and epidemiological curves.Case-control and field studies on hazard factors were conducted simultaneously.Results The incubation period was 1.5-5.0 hours,of which the median was 3 during the outbreak.All the cases consumed food from a restaurant called Chen's Snacks nearby their university and suffered from the Staphylococcus aureus enterotoxin.Results from the Staphylococcus enterotoxin testing were positive in 3 stool and 6 food samples,out of the total 18 samples.Conclusion This foodborne outbreak was caused through food poisoning by vermicelli which was contaminated with Staphylococcus aureus.