Investigation of a Food Poisoning Outbreak in a High School in Yunlin County, Taiwan, 2002

Jiang DD

2003 Vol.19 NO.9

Correspondence Author：

Abstract：

On September 25, 2002, a food poisoning outbreak occurred in a private high school in Yunlin County. For restricted cooperation on the part of the school, only 502 students of the junior high third grade and the senior high third grade were interviewed with a semi-structured questionnaire. Of them, 77 (60 male and 17 female students) met the case definition of food poisoning, accounting for 15.3% of those interviewed. Major clinical symptoms included fever (9.6%), chill (9.4%), weakness (9.2%), nausea (8.8%), vomiting (8.0%), and dizziness (6.6%). Incubation period ranged from 5 to 44 hours, with a median and a mode of 18 hours each. In 18 rectal swabs, Vibrio parahaemolyticus was isolated in 14 (77.8%). It was, therefore, decided that the pathogenic agent of the present outbreak was Vibrio parahaemolyticus.