Ls. Docarmo et al., STAPHYLOCOCCUS-AUREUS AND SALMONELLA-ENTERITIDIS PRESENT IN FOOD IMPLICATED IN FOOD POISONING, Revista de Microbiologia, 27(2), 1996, pp. 122-125
Two hundred-eighty people became ill with diarrhea, vomiting, fever, c
ramps, and headache 6 to 15 hours after consuming potato salad at a re
staurant in Brasilia, Brazil, on September 3, 1993. Both Staphylococcu
s aureus (2.1 x 10(6)/g) and Salmonella enteritidis were isolated from
the potato salad, the only food remaining from the dinner. Because ot
her food poisoning agents were not present in the potato salad and oth
er foods consumed at the dinner were not likely suspects for food pois
oning because of estimated low attack rates, it was concluded that the
illnesses could have been due to the staphylococci and Salmonella con
taminating the potato salad. The symptoms overlap those of salmonellos
is and staphylococcal food poisoning, except for fever which seldom oc
curs in the former. The time limit is within the range for salmonellos
is, with 6 hours normally being the longer time limit for staphylococc
al food poisoning. The staphylococci may have come from the food handl
ers and the S. enteritidis from the eggs used in preparing the potato
salad dressing. Salmonellosis from eggs have occurred in other countri
es, with S. enteritidis being present inside the eggs. The staphylococ
ci were not examined for the production of enterotoxin nor was the foo
d examined for the presence of enterotoxin. On examination, several of
the food handlers in the restaurant were colonized with enterotoxigen
ic staphylococci. This is important information because most staphyloc
occal food poisoning outbreaks result fi om contamination of the food
by the food handlers.