OUTBREAK OF SALMONELLA-ENTERITIDIS IN NOR THWEST OF S-PAULO STATE, BRAZIL

A foodborne outbreak which affected 211 persons occurred, in a School, in 1993. The epidemiological data obtained by interviewing the affect ed and non affected persons sampled showed as predominant symptoms: di arrhoea, fever (77.7%); abdominal cramps (67.7%), vomiting (65.8%), ho t-and-cold sensations (54.5%) and:headache (44.5%). The median incubat ion period was of 17 hours, the limits being 3 and 29 hours. The disea se period was of from 3 to 4 days. The food concerned was a kind of pa te, a mayonnaise mixture prepared with fresh eggs with boiled potatoes that was consumed with bread. The biological material analysis - 3 co procultures, and leftovers of the food revealed the presence of one an d the same organism: Salmonella Enteritidis. In the food, the numbers of this bacterium per gram were sufficient to account for the manifest ation of the disease (104 and 105/g). The antibiogram of all the isola tes showed the same sensibility pattern. The preparation related to th is outbreak suggests the endogenous contamination of the eggs; the cro ss contamination - the outbreak affected three school periods, as the food was prepared separately for each school period; and the condition s under which the food was kept during the time from preparation to co nsumption. The observation of the 3 food handlers, by successive copro cultures, for one week, indicates that they were not asymptomatic carr iers nor were they affected as a result of this outbreak by the causal bacteria.