Epidemiological investigation of an outbreak of food poisoning at a religious gathering in South India

Dr  V G Prasad; Dr M V Malhotra; Dr Kishore Yadav; Dr K Nagaraj

Volume : V, Issue : V, May - 2015

Epidemiological investigation of an outbreak of food poisoning at a religious gathering in South India

Dr V G Prasad, Dr M V Malhotra, Dr Kishore Yadav, Dr K Nagaraj

Abstract :

 Background: An outeak of food poisoning in a rural setting after a religious function in a temple was  reported when 800 cases of food poisoning reported sick. Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted where in a representative sample of 185 subjects out of 800 persons  affected were interviewed regarding source of infection, time interval between food intake and onset of symptoms and  clinical manifestations. Epidemiological factors associated with the outeak which include water supply and sanitation and other factors were investigated.The investigation revealed that contamination of Prasad distributed during the  ceremony in a temple by E coli infected water was responsible for the outeak.Salient findings of the epidemiological  investigation and recommendations to prevent outeak in similar situations are presented Results The source of infection was identified as panakam (a liquid preparation made with jiggery and water) given as prasad  to devotees who have come to temple. Young adults in the age group 19–45 years were mostly affected (/49.4%). Average time interval between ingestion of food and symptoms was found to be 12–24 hours and 1–12 hours i.e 55.1%  and 28.6% of cases respectively. Most of the cases affected presented with symptoms of diarrhoea (94.6%) and vomiting (70.3%). The epidemic curve suggested that it was common source single exposure outeak. Most of the cases  (64.3%) investigated had more than one member in the family also affected. Attack rate was found to be 39.95%.  E.coli were grown from the stool samples as well as water used for preparation of Prasad. There was no death reported.  Conclusions Maintenance of highest standard of personal hygiene,food and environmental sanitation need to be taken in Religious  functions