Community Foodborne of Salmonella Weltevreden Outbreak at Northern Governorate, Sultanate of Oman

Authors

Ali A. Al-Maqbali^{1, *,} , Seif S. Al-Abri^2, , V. Vidyanand^1, , Idris Al-Abaidani^2, , Amal S. Al-Balushi^1, , Shyam Bawikar^2, , Emadeldin El Amir¹, Saleh Al-Azri^3, , Rajesh Kumar^3, , Azza Al-Rashdi^3, , Amina K. Al-Jardani³

¹Ministry of Health, Directorate of Communicable Disease Surveillance and Control-NBG, Sohar, Oman

²Ministry of Health, Directorate General of Disease Surveillance and Control, Muscat, Oman

³Ministry of Health, Central Public Health Laboratory, Muscat, Oman

^*Corresponding author. Email: almoqbali96@hotmail.com

DOI

10.2991/jegh.k.210404.001How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Salmonella Weltevreden; rapid response team; outbreak investigation; serotyping

Abstract

Objectives: To investigate the course of a community gastroenteritis outbreak by Salmonella and implement interventional activities and roles to prevent occurring such an outbreak in the future.

Methods: From August 27 to 2 September 2015, 101 individuals were reported among a local community. All affected individuals had a history of food consumption at a local restaurant. A rapid response team conducted active surveillance and interview with the affected individuals and workers of the restaurant. Food items and stools from food handlers and affected individuals were cultured and sent for genotyping. An environmental audit of the restaurant had been conducted.

Results: The total majority of the affected individuals were male and more than 70% belonged to the young age group from 15 to 45 years. Out of the total, 97% had diarrhea, 70% fever, 56% abdominal cramps and 49% vomiting. All those affected were managed symptomatically except for 14 cases admitted for intravenous rehydration. Breakdown of food safety and basic personal hygiene were detected in the environment of the restaurant and among the workers. There are 39 out of 49 stool cultures of cases, six out of 18 food handlers, and five food samples were positive for Salmonella spp. The identical DNA fingerprinting pattern among S. Weltevreden strains originating from human cases and food was detected.

Conclusion: This is the first reported community foodborne of S. Weltevreden outbreak in Oman. The importance of food safety and rigors environmental safety is emphasized. Basic personal hygiene and training of food handlers in restaurants are recommended with public health measurements.

Copyright

© 2021 The Authors. Published by Atlantis Press International B.V.

Open Access

This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC 4.0 license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/).

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TY  - JOUR
AU  - Ali A. Al-Maqbali
AU  - Seif S. Al-Abri
AU  - V. Vidyanand
AU  - Idris Al-Abaidani
AU  - Amal S. Al-Balushi
AU  - Shyam Bawikar
AU  - Emadeldin El Amir
AU  - Saleh Al-Azri
AU  - Rajesh Kumar
AU  - Azza Al-Rashdi
AU  - Amina K. Al-Jardani
PY  - 2021
DA  - 2021/04/09
TI  - Community Foodborne of Salmonella Weltevreden Outbreak at Northern Governorate, Sultanate of Oman
JO  - Journal of Epidemiology and Global Health
SP  - 224
EP  - 229
VL  - 11
IS  - 2
SN  - 2210-6014
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/jegh.k.210404.001
DO  - 10.2991/jegh.k.210404.001
ID  - Al-Maqbali2021
ER  -