Epidemiological investigation of a foodborne illness outbreak caused by Vibrio parahaemolyticus contamination

Abstract

ObjectiveIn this paper， the cause of an outbreak of foodborne disease in Huzhou City was analyzed， which may help avoid the recurrence of such incidents.MethodsThrough the field epidemiological investigation， the case definition was formulated and the questionnaire survey was carried out in the case group and the control group. In addition， the chi-square test and logistic regression method were used to identify the factors affecting the outbreak. The patient stool samples， food samples， environmental samples and water samples were collected and used for the laboratory test. The PFGE molecular typing was conducted on the isolated positive strains.ResultsThe number of people exposed during the same period was 410， and the number of possible cases was 18， with an incidence of 4.39%. Generally， the main symptoms were abdominal pain and diarrhea， accompanied by nausea， fatigue， fever and others. For case-control analysis， 17 of the 18 patients were included in the case group， and 19 non-patients were into control group. The results suggested that the risk factors were blanched deep-water shrimp（OR=19.42， 95%CI=1.06‒357.02， P=0.046）and steamed Ao Long （Australian lobster） with garlic and vermicelli （OR=22.01， 95%CI=1.24‒390.70， P=0.035）. According to the laboratory test results Vibrio parahaemolyticus （VP） was positive in 5 cases， and the serum type was is O10∶K4. In the reserved food， VP was positive in the samples of steamed Australian lobster with garlic vermicelli and lamb chops. The serum type was O5∶Kut.ConclusionThis incident was an outbreak of foodborne disease caused by the consumption of wedding food contaminated by VP. The dinner was served by Hotel B on September 17. Moreover， the suspicious foods include the blanched deep-water shrimp and steamed lobster with garlic vermicelli.

Keywords

• vibrio parahaemolyticus
• foodborne disease
• pfge molecular typing
• epidemiological investigation