Case History:

Foodborne Disease (Campylobacteriosis)

Twenty-eight kindergarten children and seven adults visited a raw milk bottling plant, where they were given ice cream and raw milk. Three to six days later, nine children and three adults developed gastroenteritis. The only foods eaten by all these children (ill and well) were in the school-provided lunches. No one else in the school became sick. Stool cultures showed one bacterium in common to nine of the ill children and not present in samples from nine well children. This bacterium is a curved gram-negative rod; it neither ferments nor oxidizes glucose.

Questions

1. Identify the etiologic agent of this outbreak of food poisoning.

2. Was it food infection or intoxication?

3. How did the food get contaminated, and what item was contaminated?

4. What could be done to prevent this type of outbreak?

5. Briefly explain how you arrived at your conclusions.

The Solution

Source of infection: Raw milk

Bacteria: Campylobacter

Prevention: Pasteurization

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