A large outbreak of gastroenteritis caused by diarrheal toxin-producing Bacillus cereus.
An outbreak of diarrhea occurred after a university field day. Of 643 attendees who returned mailed questionnaires, 139 (22%) reported illness. Persons who ate barbecued pork, which was unrefrigerated for 18 h after cooking, were five times more likely to become ill than those who did not eat pork (26% vs. 5%; relative risk, 5.4; 95% confidence interval, 1.4-20.9). A leftover pork sample grew a Bacillus cereus isolate, > 10(5) cfu/g, that produced diarrheal toxin. Thirty-four percent of ill persons noted onset of illness outside the 6- to 24-h incubation period traditionally ascribed to B. cereus-mediated diarrhea, and an unusually high percentage (23%) noted fever. B. cereus may cause a wider spectrum of disease than previously described.
Division of Field Epidemiology, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA 30333.
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Luby
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Jones
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Dowda
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Kramer
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Horan
D001409:Bacillus cereus / Q000378:metabolism; D001427:Bacterial Toxins / Q000096:biosynthesis; D003967:Diarrhea / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology; D004196:Disease Outbreaks; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005759:Gastroenteritis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology; D006801:Humans; D012307:Risk Factors; D013022:South Carolina / Q000453:epidemiology
D001427:Bacterial Toxins