title: Epidemiology of an unusually prolonged outbreak of typhoid fever in Terrassa, Spain.
abstract: An unusually prolonged outbreak of typhoid fever, from 1988 to 1994, in Terrassa (Barcelona, Spain), was caused by a casual food handler who was a carrier. The pattern of this outbreak suggested intermittent low-level exposure to Salmonella typhi. We found 70 patients with S. typhi infections, 52 of whom were available for study. Medical records were reviewed and patients were interviewed with use of a standard questionnaire. Phage typing and pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) for strain subtyping were used to confirm the epidemiological data. The 27 outbreak strains shared the same phage type and the same PFGE pattern. Four sporadic strains shared the same phage type as the outbreak strain. PFGE was found to be useful for differentiating strains for epidemiological purposes.
authors.affiliation: Servei de Microbiologia and Servei de Medicina Interna, Hospital Mutua de Terrassa, Spain.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Xercavins
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Llovet
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Navarro
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Morera
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Moré
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Bella
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Freixas
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Simó
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Echeita
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Coll
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Garau
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Prats
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001434:Bacteriophage Typing; D002353:Carrier State / Q000382:microbiology*; D002648:Child; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000032:analysis; D003967:Diarrhea / Q000382:microbiology; D004196:Disease Outbreaks; D016521:Electrophoresis, Gel, Pulsed-Field; D005260:Female; D005511:Food Handling; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D012485:Salmonella typhi / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics*; D013030:Spain / Q000453:epidemiology; D014435:Typhoid Fever / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology
chemical_list: D004269:DNA, Bacterial