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Previous Volume 342:1236-1241 April 27, 2000 Number 17 Next

	Full Text PDF Editorial by Osterholm, M. T. Add to Personal Archive Add to Citation Manager Notify a Friend E-mail When Cited PubMed Citation

ABSTRACT

Background On May 21, 1997, numerous cases of febrile gastrointestinal illness were reported among the students and staff of two primary schools in northern Italy, all of whom had eaten at cafeterias served by the same caterer.

Methods We interviewed people who ate at the cafeterias about symptoms and foods consumed on May 20. There were no samples of foods left at the cafeterias, but we tested routine samples taken on May 20 by the caterer and environmental specimens at the catering plant. The hospitalized patients were tested for common enteropathogens and toxins.

Results Of the 2189 persons interviewed (82 percent of those exposed), 1566 (72 percent) reported symptoms; of these, 292 (19 percent) were hospitalized. Among samples obtained from hospitalized patients, all but two of the stool specimens and all blood specimens were negative for common enteropathogens. Listeria monocytogenes was isolated from one blood specimen and from 123 of the 141 stool specimens. Consumption of a cold salad of corn and tuna was associated with the development of symptoms (relative risk, 6.19; 95 percent confidence interval, 4.81 to 7.98; P<0.001). L. monocytogenes was isolated from the caterer's sample of the salad and from environmental specimens collected from the catering plant. All listeria isolates were serotype 4b and were found to be identical on DNA analysis. Experimental contamination of sterile samples of the implicated foods showed that L. monocytogenes grew on corn when kept for at least 10 hours at 25°C.

Conclusions Food-borne infection with L. monocytogenes can cause febrile illness with gastroenteritis in immunocompetent persons.

Source Information

From the Reparto di Microbiologia degli Alimenti, Laboratorio Alimenti (P.A.), and the Reparto Malattie Infettive, Laboratorio di Epidemiologia e Biostatistica (S.S.), Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome; the Dipartimento di Patologia Clinica, Azienda Ospedaliera Materno-Infantile, Ospedale Regina Margherita–Santa Anna, Turin (G.C.F., L.L.); the Dipartimento Subprovinciale di Torino, Azienda Regionale per la Protezione Ambientale, Turin (D.C.); the Laboratorio di Microbiologia, Ospedale San Giovanni Battista, Turin (G.M.); and the Laboratorio di Patologia Clinica, Ospedale San Croce, Moncalieri (O.N.) — all in Italy.

Address reprint requests to Dr. Aureli at Reparto di Microbiologia degli Alimenti, Laboratorio Alimenti, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Viale Regina Elena, 299, 00161 Rome, Italy, or at p.aureli{at}iss.it.

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