J Prev Med Public Health.  2014 May;47(3):177-181.

Epidemiological Investigation of an Outbreak of Salmonellosis in Gyeongju, Korea

• Yoo SJ
• Lim HS
• Lee K

Abstract

OBJECTIVES
A salmonellosis outbreak occurred within a community of Gyeongju residents who ingested catered food from a wedding in June 2009. We aimed to epidemiologically investigate the probable vehicle of the infection.
METHODS
We conducted a retrospective cohort study on 34 local residents who ingested the wedding food.
RESULTS
Among the 34 residents, 31 (91.2%) reported symptoms of infection after eating the food. Among all of the wedding foods, pan-fried foods were highly associated with the diarrheal attack rate. On bacteriological examination, Salmonella species were detected in the pan-fried foods among the leftover foods and in 17 of the 31 stool specimens from the cases. There were five different types of pan-fried foods, but the onset of symptoms was independent of the ingredients used. We found that the pan-fried food was prepared at a food store in Seoul and that eggs were a common ingredient.
CONCLUSIONS
The major cause of the salmonellosis in this population was presumed to be the pan-fried food prepared with contaminated eggs. These food items might have been partially undercooked because of their irregular shape, which allowed the Salmonella species to survive and multiply before ingestion.

Keyword

Epidemiologic studies; Salmonella infections; Egg

MeSH Terms

Cohort Studies
*Disease Outbreaks
Eggs/microbiology
Feces/microbiology
*Food Microbiology
Fruit/microbiology
Humans
Republic of Korea/epidemiology
Retrospective Studies
Salmonella/*isolation & purification
Salmonella Food Poisoning/*epidemiology
Time Factors