[Gastroenteritis outbreak in tourists: limitations of information and response].
BACKGROUND
We present the results of different studies performed in the investigation of a gastroenteritis outbreak and we describe the difficulties and limitations encountered during its study.


METHODS
Several analytical studies were designed: one cohort study and one case-control study with different samples sizes.


RESULTS
Of the 189 trip participants, 43% answered the questionnaire. Forty-five cases were identified. The factors significantly associated with the disease were: dinner in one of the restaurants of the resort on December 11 in all analytical studies and the excursion to a nearby island in the cohort study.


CONCLUSIONS
The outbreak was confirmed however due to the low response rate and the problems encountered to interview the participants in the trip, it was not possible to identify the route of transmission.
Hernando
Victoria
V
Programa de Epidemiología Aplicada de Campo, Centro Nacional de Epidemiología, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, España. vhernando@isciii.es
Herrera
Dionisio
D
Hernández
Gloria
G
Varela
Carmen
C
de Mateo
Salvador
S
D000328:Adult; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D015331:Cohort Studies; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D004196:Disease Outbreaks; D005260:Female; D005759:Gastroenteritis / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D016017:Odds Ratio; D012306:Risk; D013030:Spain / Q000453:epidemiology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013997:Time Factors; D014195:Travel