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A community outbreak of Salmonella berta associated with a soft cheese product

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 February 1998

A. ELLIS ,
M. PRESTON ,
A. BORCZYK ,
B. MILLER ,
P. STONE ,
B. HATTON ,
A. CHAGLA  and
J. HOCKIN
A. ELLIS
Affiliation:
Field Epidemiology Training Program, Bureau of Surveillance and Field Epidemiology, Laboratory Centre for Disease Control, Health Canada, Tunney's Pasture, Postal Locator 0602B, Ottawa, Ontario, K1A 0K9
M. PRESTON
Affiliation:
Clinical Bacteriology Section, Central Public Health Laboratory, Ministry of Health, 81 Resources Rd, Toronto, Ontario, M9P 3T1
A. BORCZYK
Affiliation:
Clinical Bacteriology Section, Central Public Health Laboratory, Ministry of Health, 81 Resources Rd, Toronto, Ontario, M9P 3T1
B. MILLER
Affiliation:
Healthy Environments Division, Waterloo Regional Community Health Department, 99 Regina St. S., P.O. Box 1633, Waterloo, Ontario, N2J 4V3
P. STONE
Affiliation:
Healthy Environments Division, Waterloo Regional Community Health Department, 99 Regina St. S., P.O. Box 1633, Waterloo, Ontario, N2J 4V3
B. HATTON
Affiliation:
Healthy Environments Division, Waterloo Regional Community Health Department, 99 Regina St. S., P.O. Box 1633, Waterloo, Ontario, N2J 4V3
A. CHAGLA
Affiliation:
Public Health Laboratory, P.O. Box 5704, Postal Station A, London, Ontario, N6A 4L6
J. HOCKIN
Affiliation:
Field Epidemiology Training Program, Bureau of Surveillance and Field Epidemiology, Laboratory Centre for Disease Control, Health Canada, Tunney's Pasture, Postal Locator 0602B, Ottawa, Ontario, K1A 0K9
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Abstract

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In September 1994, a complaint was registered at a public health unit concerning a cheese product. In addition, public health laboratories in Ontario reported an increase in the number of isolates of Salmonella berta from patients with diarrhoeal illness. A clinical, environmental and laboratory investigation was initiated to determine the nature of this outbreak. Isolates of Salmonella berta were compared using large fragment genomic fingerprinting by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE). By late October, 82 clinical cases had been identified including 35 confirmed, 44 suspected and 3 secondary. The investigation linked illness to consumption of an unpasteurized soft cheese product produced on a farm and sold at farmers' markets. Subtyping results of patient, cheese and chicken isolates were indistinguishable, suggesting that the cheese was contaminated by chicken carcasses during production. The outbreak illustrates the potential role of uninspected home-based food producers and of cross-contamination in the transmission of foodborne bacterial pathogens.

Type
Research Article
Information
Epidemiology & Infection , Volume 120 , Issue 1 , February 1998 , pp. 29 - 35
Copyright
© 1998 Cambridge University Press