Media Releases
Vigilance pays off for investigators of rare food poisoning
The discovery of two cases in May this year in South Australia of Salmonella Zanzibar, a rare strain of bacteria not seen in SA since 1995, highlights the importance of investigative public health action even when the numbers of case reports are low.
30 September 2001
CDI 03/01
Vigilance pays off for investigators of rare food poisoning
The discovery of two cases in May this year in South Australia of Salmonella Zanzibar, a rare strain of bacteria not seen in SA since 1995, highlights the importance of investigative public health action even when the numbers of case reports are low, SA public health officials have warned.
Writing in the latest edition of the Communicable Diseases Intelligence (CDI), the official publication of the Communicable Diseases Network of Australia (CDNA), Ingrid Tribe and Dr Scott Cameron of the South Australian Department of Human Services said in May 2001 a male and a female aged between 26 and 31 contracted Salmonella Zanzibar.
"Case One was a resident of a rural township in South Australia and Case Two was a resident of metropolitan Adelaide," Dr Cameron said.
"The link discovered between the two cases was that both people ate at an Italian restaurant in a rural township between 5 and 7 May 2001, and both people ate a chicken based pasta dish.
"This link was only discovered after intensive hypothesis generating interviews which sought demographic, illness, employment, travel, social activities, restaurant/take-away food consumption and animal contact information for the seven day period prior to the onset of symptoms."
Ingrid said an environmental investigation conducted four weeks after the exposures found food handling procedures were satisfactory at the restaurant and there were no reports of gastrointestinal illness in employees.
"Perhaps the source of the Salmonella was the chicken but the event highlights the importance of investigating, even when the numbers of case reports is low and the connection between cases is not obvious at first glance," Dr Cameron said.
The CDI, produced by the Federal Department of Health and Aged Care, is available on the web at www.health.gov.au/pubhlth/cdi/cdicur.htm
Media contacts: Neil Branch, Communicable Diseases Network Australia, 0412 258 449
