AN OUTBREAK OF BACILLUS CEREUS FOOD POISONING RESULTING FROM CONTAMINATED VEGETABLE SPROUTS

In an outbreak of gastrointestinal illness caused by consumption of homegrown raw vegetable sprouts contaminated by Bacillus cereus. victims developed symptoms after an incubation period of 6–15 hours. Four persons initially experienced nausea and vomiting, and this was followed in 3 casas by abdomi...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:American journal of epidemiology 1976-06, Vol.103 (6), p.589-594
Main Authors: PORTNOY, BENJAMIN L., GOEPFERT, JOHN M., HARMON, STANLEY M.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Bacillus cereus
Bacillus cereus - growth & development
Child
Disease Outbreaks
enterotoxins
Enterotoxins - isolation & purification
Female
Food Contamination
Food Microbiology
food poisoning
Foodborne Diseases - epidemiology
Foodborne Diseases - microbiology
Humans
Middle Aged
Seeds
Texas
Vegetables
Virulence
Citations: Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:In an outbreak of gastrointestinal illness caused by consumption of homegrown raw vegetable sprouts contaminated by Bacillus cereus. victims developed symptoms after an incubation period of 6–15 hours. Four persons initially experienced nausea and vomiting, and this was followed in 3 casas by abdominal cramps and diarrhea. Bacteriologic investigation indicated that B. cereus on unsprouted seeds proliferated during germination in a commercially sold seed sprouting kit and reached levels in excess of 107 per gram. B. cereus isolated from the incriminated sprouts exhibited entero-toxigenic activity when tested by the ligated rabbit ileal loop technique, the dermal reaction in guinea pigs, and the rabbit skin capillary permeability test. The diversity of symptoms and incubation periods attributed to B. cereus requires analysis for this often overlooked organism whenever food-borne gastroenteritis is suspected.
ISSN:0002-9262
1476-6256
DOI:10.1093/oxfordjournals.aje.a112263