Outbreak of cyclosporiasis associated with imported raspberries, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 2000.
An outbreak of cyclosporiasis occurred in attendees of a wedding reception held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on June 10, 2000. In a retrospective cohort study, 54 (68.4%) of the 79 interviewed guests and members of the wedding party met the case definition. The wedding cake, which had a cream filling that included raspberries, was the food item most strongly associated with illness (multivariate relative risk, 5.9; 95% confidence interval, 3.6 to 10.5). Leftover cake was positive for Cyclospora DNA by polymerase chain reaction analyses. Sequencing of the amplified fragments confirmed that the organism was Cyclospora cayetanensis. The year 2000 was the fifth year since 1995 that outbreaks of cyclosporiasis definitely or probably associated with Guatemalan raspberries have occurred in the spring in North America. Additionally, this is the second documented U.S. outbreak, and the first associated with raspberries, for which Cyclospora has been detected in the epidemiologically implicated food item.
Philadelphia Department of Public Health, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19146, USA. Alice.Ho@phila.gov
Alice Y
AY
Ho
Adriana S
AS
Lopez
Michael G
MG
Eberhart
Robert
R
Levenson
Bernard S
BS
Finkel
Alexandre J
AJ
da Silva
Jacquelin M
JM
Roberts
Palmer A
PA
Orlandi
Caroline C
CC
Johnson
Barbara L
BL
Herwaldt
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000818:Animals; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D003132:Commerce; D021744:Cyclospora / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D021866:Cyclosporiasis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000469:parasitology*; D016054:DNA, Protozoan; D004196:Disease Outbreaks; D005260:Female; D005511:Food Handling; D016266:Food Parasitology; D005517:Foodborne Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000469:parasitology; D005638:Fruit / Q000469:parasitology*; D006166:Guatemala; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015143:Philadelphia / Q000453:epidemiology; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction
D016054:DNA, Protozoan