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Previous Volume 336:1142-1148 April 17, 1997 Number 16 Next

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ABSTRACT

Background A 17-year-old boy and his father had acute gastroenteritis after eating spaghetti and pesto that had been prepared four days earlier. Within two days, fulminant liver failure and rhabdomyolysis developed in the boy and he died. The father had hyperbilirubinemia and rhabdomyolysis but recovered. We investigated the cause of these illnesses.

Methods Bacteria were isolated and characterized by conventional methods, and bacterial toxins were quantified by immunoassays and cell-culture techniques. The effect of the isolated toxin on the rates of oxidation of various substrates was analyzed in rat-liver mitochondria.

Results Autopsy of the boy's liver revealed diffuse microvesicular steatosis and midzonal necrosis that suggested impaired -oxidation of liver mitochondria due to a mitochondrial toxin. There was no evidence of ingestion of heavy metals, halogenated compounds, hepatotoxic drugs, or staphylococcal enterotoxin. However, high concentrations of Bacillus cereus emetic toxin were found both in the residue from the pan used to reheat the food and in the boy's liver and bile. B. cereus was cultured from the intestinal contents and the pan residue. The emetic toxin isolated from the B. cereus cultures was found to be a mitochondrial toxin.

Conclusions Fulminant liver failure developed after the ingestion of food contaminated with the B. cereus emetic toxin. The toxin inhibits hepatic mitochondrial fatty-acid oxidation, indicating that it caused liver failure in this patient.

Source Information

From Endorphin Research Laboratories, Group of Medical Toxicology, Institute of Legal Medicine, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland (H.M., A.P., P.S., W.B.); the Institute of Legal Medicine, Heinrich Heine University of Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany (H.M.); the Food Hygiene Laboratory, Central Public Health Laboratory, London (J.M.K., A.C.S.); and the Division of Clinical Pharmacology and Toxicology, Department of Internal Medicine, University Hospital of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland (S.K.).

Address reprint requests to Dr. Pasi at the Institute of Legal Medicine, University of Zurich, CH-8057 Zurich, Switzerland.

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