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A large outbreak of human salmonellosis traced to a local pig farm

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 October 2009

H. C. F. Maguire
Affiliation:
PHLS Communicable Disease Surveillance Centre, 61 Colindale Avenue, London NW9 5EQ
A. A. Codd
Affiliation:
PHLS Newcastle Laboratory
V. E. Mackay
Affiliation:
North West Durham Health Authority
B. Rowe
Affiliation:
PHLS Division of Enteric Pathogens
E. Mitchell
Affiliation:
PHLS Communicable Disease Surveillance Centre, 61 Colindale Avenue, London NW9 5EQ
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Summary

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An outbreak of Salmonella typhimurinm definitive type (DT) 193 affecting 206 persons occurred in July and August 1989 in a small town in northern England. A descriptive study suggested that cold meats including pork from a butcher's shop in the town were vehicles of infection. An analytical study of a cohort attending a function in the town showed a significant association between illness and consumption of cold roast pork supplied by the butcher's shop (P = 0·00000004). S. typhimurium DT 193 with the same antibiotic resistance pattern (to ampicillin, streptomycin, sulphonamides and tetracyclines) as the outbreak strain, and possessing a single plasmid of 80 MDa was isolated from samples of meat bought from the shop and implicated in illness, and from samples of pig faeces taken from the farm supplying the shop. It was concluded that inadequate processing of infected pork meat at the shop may have contributed to this outbreak but that cross contamination also played an important part in transmission. Control measures included a temporary closure of the shop and subsequent implementation of a detailed protocol for meat processing and monitoring of all procedures at the shop.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1993

References

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