ABSTRACT
A foodborne outbreak of Salmonella enteritidis PT4 is described. This microrganism was detected in a home-made dessert, in the duck and hen eggs used for its preparation and in faecal samples of six persons involved in the outbreak. PCR ribotyping revealed that all the strains shared a profile of S. enteritidis never previously identified in southern Italy and quite different from that of the strains simultaneously isolated in the same geographic area. The possible identification of a clonal variant of S. enteritidis PT4 host-adapted to duck is hypothesized.
Subject(s)
Chickens/microbiology , Disease Outbreaks , Ducks/microbiology , Eggs/microbiology , Salmonella Food Poisoning/microbiology , Salmonella enteritidis/isolation & purification , Animals , Feces/microbiology , Humans , Italy/epidemiology , Polymerase Chain Reaction , Poultry Diseases/microbiology , Salmonella Food Poisoning/epidemiology , Salmonella Food Poisoning/transmission , Salmonella Infections, Animal/microbiology , Salmonella Infections, Animal/transmission , Salmonella enteritidis/classification , Salmonella enteritidis/geneticsSubject(s)
Botulism/epidemiology , Disease Outbreaks , Meat/poisoning , Adolescent , Adult , Animals , Botulism/microbiology , Child , Child, Preschool , Clostridium botulinum/isolation & purification , Female , Food Preservation , Humans , Italy/epidemiology , Male , Meat/microbiology , Middle Aged , SwineABSTRACT
A person to person outbreak of hepatitis A is described: 90 cases of hepatitis A occurred in a small town in Calabria, southern Italy; all cases were under 18 years of age with the highest age-specific incidence rate in the 6-10 year age group. Transmission was identified by tracing close contacts with other incubating or active cases; only eight out of 90 cases were not identified as having a very probable or possible contact with an infecting case. Transmission was high between family members leading to a secondary family attack rate of 51% in children under 16. An enteric disease educational campaign was carried out together with IgG and no cases of hepatitis A were reported in the two years following the investigation.
