epiH :: Epidemiology and Health

Search: epiH Search

CLOSE

Original Article

January 9, 2019

A large outbreak of Salmonella enterica serovar Thompson infections associated with chocolate cake in Busan, Korea

Youngduck Eun, Hyesun Jeong, Seungjin Kim, Wonseo Park, Byoungseon Ahn, Dongkeun Kim, Eunhee Kim, Eunhee Park, Sunhee Park, Inyeong Hwang, et al.

Epidemiol Health. 2019;41:e2019002.

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to reveal the epidemiologic characteristics of the outbreak of gastroenteritis caused by Salmonella enterica serovar Thompson in Busan Metropolitan City and to identify points for improvement...

Current Issue: Volume 41; 2019

Original Article A large outbreak of Salmonella enterica serovar Thompson infections associated with chocolate cake in Busan, Korea

Youngduck Eun, Hyesun Jeong, Seungjin Kim, Wonseo Park, et al. Epidemiol Health. 2019;41:e2019002.

Abstract: OBJECTIVES:
This study aimed to reveal the epidemiologic characteristics of the outbreak of gastroenteritis caused by Salmonella enterica serovar Thompson in Busan Metropolitan City and to identify points for improvement to prevent of food-borne disease outbreak.
METHODS:
This was a case-control study. The control group comprised asymptomatic students in the same classes of the cases. The presence or absence of symptoms, ingestion of each food provided by school meal service, and commonly ingested foods in addition to those foods in meal service were investigated. Moreover, specimens collected from rectal swab, preserved foods, and environmental surface were tested.
RESULTS:
Of the 6,092 subjects, 1,111 (1,083 students, 22 school personnel, and 6 foodservice employees) were included in the case group; this corresponded to an 18.4% attack rate. Symptoms included diarrhea (n=1,051, 94.6%), abdominal pain (n=931, 83.8%), febrile sensation (n=502, 45.2%), and vomiting (n=275, 24.8%). The epidemic curves of each 10 schools were unimodal. Investigation of food intake showed a significantly high odds ratio for chocolate cake in 5 out of the 10 schools. Laboratory test detected Salmonella enterica serovar Thompson both in rectal swab specimens of 9 schools and in collected preserved chocolate cakes of 9 schools. Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis test result showed that Salmonella enterica seorvar Thompson isolated from human and foods were the same.
CONCLUSIONS:
The source of infection for the Salmonella enterica serovar Thompson outbreak in the 10 schools of Busan Metropolitan City is chocolate cake. Traceback investigation for origin of contaminated food in food-borne disease outbreak and safety control during food production should be more enhanced.

Accepted Articles	Most Cited
Socioeconomic inequalities in obesity among Korean women aged 19-79 years: the 2016 Korean Study of Women’s Health Related Issues Eunji Choi, Da Hea Seo, Hana Cho, Boyoung Park, Sohee Park, Juhee Cho, Sue Kim, Yeong-Ran Kim, Kui Son Choi, Yumie Rhee Epidemiol Health. 2019;e2019005.	2015 MERS outbreak in Korea: hospital-to-hospital transmission Moran Ki Epidemiol Health. 2015;37:e2015033. Cited By 71
Health effects of exposure to radon: implications of the radon bed mattress incident Songwon Seo, Wi-Ho Ha, Jin-kyu Kang, Dalnim Lee, Soojin Park, Tae-Eun Kwon, Young Woo Jin Epidemiol Health. 2019;e2019004.	Epidemiologic features of the first MERS outbreak in Korea: focus on Pyeongtaek St. Mary’s Hospital Kyung Min Kim, Moran Ki, Sung-il Cho, Minki Sung, Jin Kwan Hong, Hae-Kwan Cheong, Jong-Hun Kim, Sang-Eun Lee, Changhwan Lee, Keon-Joo Lee, et al. Epidemiol Health. 2015;37:e2015041. Cited By 18
Dietary patterns, nutrition and risk of breast cancer: case control study in the west of Iran Behjat Marzbani, Javad Nazari, Saeed Amini, Farid Najafi, Mehdi Moradinazar, Behnaz Marzbani, Sara Shahabadi, Mahin Amini, Yahya Pasdar, Ebrahim Shakiba Epidemiol Health. 2019;e2019003.	The current status of Zika virus in Southeast Asia Viroj Wiwanitkit Epidemiol Health. 2016;38:e2016026. Cited By 18
Fresh water snails as intermediate host of trematodes in Iran: A systematic Samira Dodangeh, Ahmad Daryani, Mehdi Sharif, Shirzad Gholami, Elham Kialashaki, Mahmood Moosazadeh, Shahabeddin Sarvi Epidemiol Health. 2019;e2019001.	Antimicrobial properties of nanomolecules: potential candidates as antibiotics in the era of multi-drug resistance Venkataramana Kandi, Sabitha Kandi Epidemiol Health. 2015;37:e2015020. Cited By 15
View more >	View more >

ABOUT

ARTICLE CATEGORY

Browse all articles >

BROWSE ARTICLES

FOR AUTHORS AND REVIEWERS

Editorial Office: Graduate School of Cancer Science and Policy, National Cancer Center
323 Ilsan-ro, Ilsandong-gu, Goyang 10408, Korea
TEL: +82-2-745-0662 FAX: +82-2-764-8328 E-mail: enh0662@gmail.com