title: Epidemic vomiting.
abstract: Two outbreaks of epidemic vomiting are described. One affected 107 students and staff at a college of education out of a total of 398 persons. The other affected 172 pupils and staff out of 357 at a secondary school. Evidence is presented that in both cases infection was acquired in the dining hall of the institution concerned but no specific item of food was found as a likely cause. The literature is reviewed. Possible mechanisms of spread are suggested.
mesh_terms: D003967:Diarrhea; D004739:England; D005243:Feces / Q000382:microbiology; D005260:Female; D006261:Headache; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009325:Nausea; D012572:School Health Services; D013997:Time Factors; D014839:Vomiting / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology; D014871:Water Microbiology