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The problems of tracing a geographically widespread outbreak of salmonellosis from a commonly eaten food: Salmonella typhimurium DT193 in North West England and North Wales in 1991

Salmon, R. L.; Hutchinson, D. N.; Thornton, L.; Gray, S.; Salmon, R. A.; Bingham, P.; Hutchinson, D. A.; Rowe, B.; Newton, D.; Syed, Q. U.

Authors

R. L. Salmon

D. N. Hutchinson

L. Thornton

R. A. Salmon

P. Bingham

D. A. Hutchinson

B. Rowe

D. Newton

Q. U. Syed



Abstract

Geographically widespread outbreaks involving commonly isolated organisms and where the vehicles of infection are commonly eaten foodstuffs pose particular difficulties at a technical and organizational level. An outbreak of Salmonella typhimurium infection, affecting 39 people, spread over a wide area in North West England and North Wales in April and May 1991, was detected thanks to the practice of sending specimens to the national reference laboratory where phage typing and characterizing of antibiotic resistance patterns enabled the identification of a cluster of distinctive isolates (S. typhimurium DT193 resistant to sulphonamides, trimethoprim and furazolidone). An investigation, involving twenty environmental health departments in addition to health authorities and the Public Health Laboratory Service, showed an association between the illness and eating loose sliced cooked ham (P = 0.004). Detailed tracing of the chain of supply of the ham showed this to be particularly cooked ham originating from a single small local producer (P = 0.00003). Further investigation of that producer revealed that a batch of ham distributed on one day in early April was undercooked due to a malfunction in cooking equipment. © 1993, Cambridge University Press. All rights reserved.

Citation

Hutchinson, D. N., Salmon, R. L., Thornton, L., Gray, S., Bingham, P., Salmon, R. A., …Syed, Q. U. (1993). The problems of tracing a geographically widespread outbreak of salmonellosis from a commonly eaten food: Salmonella typhimurium DT193 in North West England and North Wales in 1991. Epidemiology and Infection, 111(3), 465-472. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0950268800057198

Journal Article Type Article
Publication Date Jan 1, 1993
Journal Epidemiology and Infection
Print ISSN 0950-2688
Electronic ISSN 1469-4409
Publisher Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Peer Reviewed Not Peer Reviewed
Volume 111
Issue 3
Pages 465-472
DOI https://doi.org/10.1017/S0950268800057198
Keywords geograhicaly widespread outbreak, source, salmonella typhimurium DT193, North West England, North Wales
Public URL https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/1109461
Publisher URL http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0950268800057198