Analysis of Kudoa septempunctata as a cause of foodborne illness and its associated differential diagnosis.

Sung Uk Lee

doi:10.4178/epih.e2017037r

Abstract

Objectives Recently kudoa septempuctata in olive flounders is suggested as a cause of food poisoning, however whether kudoa septempuctata can affect human gastrointestinal systems is controversial and its pathogenecity remains unclear. In view of the field epidemiology, food poisonings caused by kudoa septempuctata should be distinguished from those caused by Staphylococcus aureus and bacillus cereus. Methods The statistics of food poisoning investigations published by Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2013-2015 were reviewed. The characteristics of kudoa septempuctata food poisoning reported by Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention were reviewed. Information regarding clinical symptoms or epidemiology was extracted. Results Total eleven kudoa septempuctata food poisoning cases were analyzed. Food poisonings caused by kudoa septempuctata, Staphylococcus aureus and bacillus cereus have clinical and epidemiological similarities. Forty five percent of food poisoning outbreaks occurred in Korea was concluded as unknown. The food poisoning caused by Staphylococcus aureus and bacillus cereus accounted for 4.5% (50/1,092) of all food poisoning outbreaks in Korea between 2013 and 2015. Conclusions This study suggests the possibilities of misdiagnosis in the investigations of food poisoning by Staphylococcus aureus and bacillus cereus with kudoa septempuctata.

Highlights

The difference between South Korea and Japan in terms of animal experiments on the pathogenicity of Kudoa septempunctata has not been explored in previous studies
Animal experiments and case series have been published, which leads me to believe that additional studies are still needed to officially designate K. septempunctata as a causative agent of foodborne illness
As discussed in the paper, the case series study that was presented to argue for a causal link between K. septempuncatata and foodborne illness is open to counterargument since the study detected other pathogens as well

Summary

Introduction

The difference between South Korea and Japan in terms of animal experiments on the pathogenicity of Kudoa septempunctata has not been explored in previous studies. Analysis of Kudoa septempunctata as a cause of foodborne illness and its associated differential diagnosis

Results

Conclusion