ABSTRACT
An ongoing outbreak of salmonellosis due to Salmonella Thompson is affecting the Netherlands. Between 2 August and 19 October 2012, 866 cases were confirmed. Their median age was 44 years (range: 0-95 years), 63% were female and 36% were hospitalised. A matched case-control study suggested smoked salmon as the vehicle. Salmonella Thompson was confirmed in four of nine batches of smoked salmon from one producer. A recall of all concerned smoked salmon products was executed starting end of September.
Subject(s)
Disease Outbreaks , Fish Products/microbiology , Salmon/microbiology , Salmonella Food Poisoning , Salmonella Infections/epidemiology , Salmonella enterica/isolation & purification , Adolescent , Adult , Animals , Case-Control Studies , Child , Child, Preschool , Female , Fish Products/analysis , Food Handling/methods , Hospitalization/statistics & numerical data , Humans , Infant , Infant, Newborn , Male , Middle Aged , Netherlands/epidemiology , Product Recalls and Withdrawals/standards , Salmonella enterica/classificationABSTRACT
UNLABELLED: EPIDEMIOLOGICAL OBSERVATION: On a warm day, during a barbecue that was attended by over 100 guests, a large number became rapidly ill with signs of acute gastroenteritis within a few hours after eating the prepared food. The characteristic symptoms were nausea, vomiting, syncope and in some cases in a later stage, diarrhoea. Sixty patients were transferred to hospitals. INVESTIGATION: Investigation revealed that the cause of this outbreak of gastroenteritis was an enterotoxin-A-producing strain of Staphylococcus aureus in a noodle dish. Both the food residues and the faeces from patients contained genotypically identical strains of S. aureus. They all had the gene for the gastroenteritis-inducing enterotoxin A from S. aureus. CONCLUSION: This case shows that the timely involvement of the different health authorities responsible for intervening in explosions of food poisoning is crucial for the clarification and treatment of such large-scale outbreaks. In the investigation of this outbreak, the municipal health authority co-operated with regional laboratories and the Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority/Inspectorate for Health Protection and Veterinary Public Health.
