SHIGELLOSIS - SWEDEN: INTENTIONAL EXPOSURE SUSPECTED
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A ProMED-mail post
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International Society for Infectious Diseases
http://www.isid.org
Date: Fri 26 Sep 2008
Source: The Local [edited]
http://www.thelocal.se/14582/20080926/
Sabotage suspected in mass food poisoning
The victims, which included employees of the
association, its members, and other guests, all
suffered from the illness caused by _Shigella
dysenteriae_ after eating in the office’s
cafeteria several weeks ago, reports the Veckans
Affarer magazine. 5 [people] suffered symptoms so
severe they were admitted to a hospital.
The bacteria are most often spread via
contaminated water and food, but an examination
of the restaurant cafeteria failed to uncover the
source of the outbreak. So far no traces of the
bacteria have been uncovered from any of the
several tests performed in the cafeteria’s kitchen.
According to Veckans Affarer, Saepo is leading
the investigation in cooperation with Swedish
police. “The reason that the police want to
investigate the case is that neither the
department of infectious diseases nor the
environmental department could ascertain the
source of the infection and a group has also
taken responsibility for the outbreak on its
website,” said the Confederation of Swedish
Enterprise’s Marie Rudberg to the magazine.
According to the Metro newspaper, the group
claiming responsibility for the attack is a
left-leaning, internet-based forum, which had
previously staged demonstrations outside of the association’s headquarters.
Security has been [increased] at the restaurant
and health authorities continue working to
localize the sources of the outbreak through
continued interviews with around 300 people who
visited the eatery over several days.
[Byline: David Landes]
—
Communicated by:
ProMED-mail
promed@promedmail.org
[Intentional contamination of food with enteric
pathogens has occurred before. With
salmonellosis, it should be easy to detect the
pathogen in the food vehicle because infection
requires a large inoculum. In shigellosis,
however, a very low inoculum is needed, so it may
be difficult to isolate the organism from its
food vehicle. Whether this episode represents an
intentional biological ‘attack’ remains to be determined. - Mod.LL]
[ProMED-mail has previously reported on a number
of episodes of intentional food poisoning. In
2004 there was an outbreak of food poisoning
associated with the addition of tung oil to soup
served in a cafeteria — students were trying to
make a statement about their dislike of the food
prepared by the cafeteria (see Toxic ingestion,
tung oil - China (Hunan) 20040503.1218). In
2003 a rat poison was added to food at a wedding
in China (see Food poisoning, intentional - China
(Jiangsu) 20031115.2836). In 2002, a tetramine
rat poison was added to food served at a school,
reportedly by a competitor food vendor jealous of
his cousin’s success (see Food poisoning, fatal -
China (Nanjing) (03) 20020918.5347). In 1999,
there was an intention food poisoning related to
the addition of human feces into bakery products
in Romania (see Foodborne illness, intentional - Romania 19990610.0993).
In 1984 there was a large outbreak of _Salmonella
typhimurium_ (751 identified cases) in the state
of Oregon, USA that was due to the intentional
contamination of salad bars by a religious cult
community. (see Bioterrorism - USA, 1984, 1996 19970829.1828 and ref. 2 below)
In 1996, there was an outbreak of _Shigella
dysenteriae_ type 2 involving 12 laboratory
workers from a large medical center in the state
of Texas, USA associated with contamination of
pastries served at breakfast with the
laboratory’s stock culture of _S. dysenteriae_
organisms. (see Shigella, deliberate
contamination? - USA (Texas) 19961119.1946] and ref. 1 below).
References:
1. Kolavic SA, Kimura A, Simons SL, Slutsker L,
Barth S, Haley CE. An outbreak of Shigella
dysenteriae type 2 among laboratory workers due
to intentional food contamination. JAMA. 1997 Aug 6;278(5):396-8.
2. Török TJ, Tauxe RV, Wise RP, Livengood JR,
Sokolow R, Mauvais S, Birkness KA, Skeels MR,
Horan JM, Foster LR. A large community outbreak
of salmonellosis caused by intentional
contamination of restaurant salad bars. JAMA. 1997 Aug 6;278(5):389-95.
- Mod.MPP]
[The HealthMap/ProMED-mail interactive map of
Sweden can be accessed at
http://healthmap.org/promed?v=62.8,16.7,5 CopyEd.MJ]
[see also:
Shigellosis, baby corn - Denmark, Australia ex Thailand 20071004.3290
Shigellosis, Thai baby corn - Australia (QLD, VIC) 20070913.3035
Shigellosis, Thai baby corn - Denmark 20070904.2913
Shigellosis, Mexican baby carrots - Canada: alert, recall 20070822.2741
2005
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Huh, that made me remember that a hospital, St. Peter’s in New Brunswick, NJ has legionnaires in their water. It made me suspicious because that property is wanted by a developer and the state has been cannibalizing all competing hospitals to reduce state owned hospital competition.
Ping to me for later.