Epidemiology of Kudoa septempunctata food poisoning in Japan from 2013 to 2023.

BackgroundKudoa septempunctata, a parasite found in olive flounder, poses a growing food safety risk in East Asia, particularly Japan and South Korea. Linked to raw fish consumption, K. septempunctata poisoning causes brief gastrointestinal symptoms. This study aimed to characterize recent epidemiological trends and characteristics of K. septempunctata food poisoning by using national data from Japan.MethodsThis retrospective study examined Kudoa food poisoning cases reported in Japan between January 2013 and December 2023. Data from the Ministry of Health’s “Foodborne Illness Statistical Data” report were assessed for case counts, outbreaks, and implicated foods.ResultsA total of 2,009 cases were reported, peaking in 2014 (429 cases) and declining to < 100 cases since 2020. October had the highest number of monthly reports. The age distribution showed that the majority of cases occurred among older adults, with individuals aged 60–69 years (23.5%) and those 70 years and older (26.0%) together accounting for nearly half of all cases. Cases among individuals younger than 20 years comprised less than 2.5% of all cases. Flounder, particularly sashimi and sushi, were implicated in 99% of cases. The highest case counts occurred in Yamaguchi, Osaka, and Fukuoka prefectures (160, 155, and 154, respectively). Tottori, Shimane, Yamaguchi and Oita prefectures had the highest incidence rates (14.3, 10.9, 10.7, and 10.7 per 1,000,000 population, respectively). Prefectures along the Sea of Japan tended to report higher incidence rates.Conclusionhis is the first study to describe Kudoa food poisoning in Japan. Clinicians should consider Kudoa infections in cases of food poisoning involving raw fish.DisclosuresAll Authors: No reported disclosures

Campylobacter jejuni is one of the major bacterial strains that cause diarrhea in humans. It has been associated with many cases of food poisoning in Japan caused by eating raw, undercooked, and/or improperly prepared chicken meat, liver, and grilled chicken (Yakitori). Campylobacter jejuni is also known to be a preceding infectious pathogen of Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS), which has a considerably negative health impact on humans. In a case of C. jejuni food poisoning that occurred at a restaurant in Tokyo (Japan) in January 2022, 1 of 4 patients with diarrhea developed GBS, which was presumed to have been caused by undercooked chicken, which has emerged as one of the most common causes of food poisoning in Japan. Moreover, C. jejuni isolates from 3 patients, including those with GBS, had the same genotypes (ST22, HS19, and LOS A). This genotype was frequently detected in patients with GBS in the authors' previous study. Findings confirmed that the patient developed GBS due to food poisoning after consuming undercooked chicken.

This research aimed to identify level of knowledge, level of attitude on liver fluke, practice of raw fresh-water fish consumption, practice of prevention and control, and association among level of knowledge, level of attitude and practice of raw fresher fish consumption of hill tribe people in Chiangkham district, Phayao province, Thailand. The sample group was tribal people (the Yao nationality) 15 – 55 years of age, totally 184 people from 84 households. Interview form was used for data collection as the team carried on face-to-face interview. Percentage, mean, standard deviation, and x2-test for association analysis were used and the results were as follow. 1. Most of the sample group had moderate level of knowledge and level of attitude on liver fluke. 2. Most of the sample group, 73.40% eat or used to eat raw freshwater fish. 3. Level of knowledge about liver fluke associated with practice of raw fish consumption insignificantly (P-Value = 0.2160). 4. Level of attitude on liver fluke associated with practice of raw fish consumption significantly (P-Value = 0.0450). The group with better attitude had less raw fish consumption practice than the group with poorer attitude. As a result, only knowledge provision to people is inadequate to reduce the raw fish consumption practice of the “Yao” hill tribe people. It needs an attitude change and correct belief to solve the problem of liver fluke incidence rate

The present paper describes the relationship between the contamination with non-O1 Vibrio cholerae and Vibrio mimicus of marine fish, with special reference to the seasonal variation and the concentration of contamination, and the actual cases of domestic food poisoning by these organisms. A 10 year survey revealed that non-O1 Vibrio cholerae (non-O1 V. cholerae) strains were frequently isolated from fish during the summer season with some variations from one year to another, and isolates from fish showed similar biological properties to those of isolates from diarrhea cases of over-sea travellers. Experimentally enteropathogenic strains were included among these isolates. Vibrio mimicus (V. mimicus) strains were also isolated from fish, the frequency being not so high as in the case of non-O1 V. cholerae Strains of serovar O-41 which was most predominant among strains from diarrhea cases were also detected among the isolates from fish. The viable cell counts, however, were very small with regard to both non-O1 V. cholerae and V. mimicus From these observations, factors causing food poisoning by non-O1 V. cholerae or V. mimicus seemed to be essentially similar to those by Vibrio parahaemolyticus (V. parahaemolyticus); that is, the food poisoning by non-O1 V. cholerae or V. mimicus is apt to occur in the summer season and is caused by the consumption of raw fish, although the frequency might be significantly low in comparison to that of V. parahaemolyticus. The actual cases of the domestic food poisoning by non-O1 V. cholerae or V. mimicus were retrospectively surveyed by the literature.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Diagnostic PCR assays to detect and differentiate Kudoa septempunctata, K. thyrsites and K. lateolabracis (Myxozoa, Multivalvulida) in muscle tissue of olive flounder (Paralichthys olivaceus)

According to the annual food poisoning statistics compiled by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW) in Japan, Campylobacter replaced Salmonella and Vibrio parahaemolyticus as the leading bacterium responsible for food poisoning in 2003. Although in 2006 the number of cases of Campylobacter food poisoning was 3,439 on the basis of the MHLW statistics, it was estimated to be 1,545,363 on the basis of active surveillance, suggesting that passive surveillance yields an incidence about 450 times lower than that revealed by active surveillance. Epidemiological investigations of Campylobacter food poisoning in Japan have shown that chicken meat and its products are the most important sources of infection, as is the case in other industrialized nations. Over the last two decades, the consumption of fresh raw chicken meat and liver has been increasing in Japan. Although the MHLW recommends that chicken meat should only be eaten after thorough cooking, it is likely to account for much of the increased incidence of human campylobacteriosis. In response to this situation, the Expert Committee on Microorganisms/Viruses, Food Safety Commission of Japan, Cabinet Office, Government of Japan (FSCJ) has revised the previous risk profile of C. jejuni/coli in chicken meat by adding new findings for 2018. Moreover, the MHLW revised the Poultry Slaughtering Business Control and Poultry Meat Inspection Act in 2014 aiming at stepwise introduction of the Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) system into poultry processing plants. Subsequently, the Japanese government amended the Food Sanitation Act in 2018, requiring all food business operators to implement hygiene control based on HACCP principles as a general rule. This paper reviews the current status of Campylobacter food poisoning due to consumption of chicken meat in Japan and extracts the issues underlying each step of the food supply chain in order to examine the implementation of effective measures for risk management.

The Kurokashiwa breed of native Japanese chickens is primarily reared in Shimane and Yamaguchi Prefectures, Japan. To reveal the genetic diversity and differentiation among the Kurokashiwa populations in both prefectures, 29 microsatellites were analyzed. To prepare the microsatellites, 54, 55, and 24 blood samples were collected from the Kurokashiwa populations of five fancy breeders in Shimane Prefecture, three fancy breeders in Yamaguchi Prefecture, and the Livestock Technology Research Department, Yamaguchi Prefectural Agriculture and Forestry General Technology Center (LTRDY), respectively. The corrected number of alleles (allelic richness: AR) was considerably low (1.63-2.48) through all Shimane and Yamaguchi populations. However, inbreeding coefficient (F-IS) values were not significant in the entire Shimane and Yamaguchi ornamental populations as well as the LTRDY population. In addition, there was no statistically significant difference in expected heterozygosity (H-E) through all populations in Shimane and Yamaguchi Prefectures, although the H-E varied from 0.237 to 0.445 depending on populations. The topology of the phylogenetic tree, pairwise F-ST values, and STRUCTURE analysis indicated that Kurokashiwa populations were genetically separated between Shimane and Yamaguchi Prefectures. On the other hand, there was no genetic differentiation among ornamental populations within each prefecture, which seemed to have resulted from adequate random matings by exchanging individuals among fancy breeders within each conservation community, along with a proper random mating within LTRDY. The present study proposes a conservation strategy suggesting that the Kurokashiwa populations of Shimane and Yamaguchi Prefectures should be maintained separately with continuous exchange of birds within each conservation community to preserve genetic diversity. Also, the LTRDY population should be independently kept by avoiding matings with ornamental bird populations because it is a well established closed colony with a uniform genetic constitution.

British Food Journal Volume 37 Issue 8 1935

A variety of tunas of the genus Thunnus are consumed daily in Japan as sliced raw fish (sashimi and sushi). The consumption of fresh sliced raw fish, i.e., unfrozen or uncooked, can sometimes cause food poisoning that is manifested by transient diarrhea and vomiting for a single day. One of the causes of this type of food poisoning has been identified as live Kudoa septempunctata (Myxosporea: Multivalvulida) in the olive flounder (Paralichthys olivaceus). Furthermore, raw slices of fresh tunas are highly suspected to be a possible causative fish of similar food poisoning in Japan. In the present study, we conducted a survey of kudoid infections in tunas (the yellowfin tuna Thunnus albacares, the Pacific bluefin tuna Thunnus orientalis, and the longtail tuna Thunnus tonggol) fished in the western Pacific Ocean off Japan and several East Asian countries and characterized morphologically and genetically the kudoid myxospores in pseudocysts or cysts dispersed in the trunk muscles. Pseudocysts of solely Kudoa hexapunctata were identified in the Pacific bluefin tuna (four isolates), whereas in the yellowfin tuna (21 isolates) pseudocysts of Kudoa neothunni and K. hexapunctata were detected at a ratio of 15:6, respectively, in addition to cyst-forming Kudoa thunni in five yellowfin tunas. In the trunk muscles of six longtail tunas examined, pseudocysts of K. neothunni (all six fish) and K. hexapunctata (two fish) were densely dispersed. The myxospores of K. neothunni found in these longtail tunas had seven shell valves and polar capsules (SV/PC) instead of the more common six SV/PC arranged symmetrically. Nucleotide sequences of the 18S and 28S ribosomal RNA gene (rDNA), some with the internal transcribed spacer regions as well, of K. hexapunctata and K. neothunni from the three Thunnus spp., including the seven-SV/PC morphotype, were very similar to previously characterized nucleotide sequences of each species, whereas the 18S and 28S rDNA of four isolates of K. thunni from yellowfin tunas showed a range of nucleotide variations of 99.0-99.9% identity over 1752-1763-bp long partial 18S rDNA and 97.4-99.9% identity over 797-802-bp long partial 28S rDNA. Therefore, this rather high variation of the rDNA nucleotide sequences of K. thunni proved to be contrary to the few variations of K. neothunni and K. hexapunctata rDNA nucleotide sequences. The present study provides a new host record of the longtail tuna for K. neothunni and K. hexapunctata and reveals a high prevalence of the seven-SV/PC myxospore morphotype of K. neothunni in this tuna host.

Vibrio parahaemolyticus was first isolated by Fujino et al.(1) in 1950 as a causative bacterium of food poisoning. Since that time, this organism has been isolated very frequently from cases of food poisoning accounting for about 40 – 60% of all cases in Japan. Table 1 summarizes data on cases of food poisoning in Japan from 1968 to 1974 reported by the Ministry of Health and Welfare. V. parahaemolyticus was the bacterium most frequently isolated, followed in order by Staphylococcus, Salmonella and enteropathogenic Escherichia coli. A few fatal cases of V. parahaemolyticus infection have been reported every year and the mortality is about 0.04% (Table 1).

Cases of biological food poisoning can be caused by several causative factors, one of which is a food processing site that does not meet health requirements. According to the BPOM report (2016) cases of food poisoning in Indonesia in 2016 reached 1,068 cases. In 2016, 60 extraordinary events (KLB) of food poisoning were reported by 31 BB/BPOM throughout Indonesia. From the many cases of food poisoning that occur, it is necessary to take action in prevention by processing data on existing cases of poisoning to follow up on existing problems to reduce the number of cases of food poisoning by using a system on a computer so that the managed data can be processed quickly to obtain further information. Therefore the author wants to use a system with the clustering method to assist in processing data on biological poisoning cases grouping objects based on the characteristics of each object. Based on the research conducted, it can be seen that in cluster 2 in the dasta group of biological poisoning cases there are 11 data with centroid point age (x) 2, namely 12-16 years, centroid point on the type of poisoning (y) 6.36, namely sandwiches, and centroid point on the causative factor (z) 2.9, namely Gram-negative rod-shaped bacteria which are usually found in the intestines of humans and warm-blooded animals.

British Food Journal Volume 30 Issue 11 1928

This study is an attempt to investigate climate-induced increases in morbidity rates of food poisoning cases. Monthly food poisoning cases, average monthly meteorological data, and population data from 2004 to 2014 were obtained from the Malaysian Ministry of Health, Malaysian Meteorological Department, and Department of Statistics Malaysia, respectively. Poisson generalised linear models were developed to assess the association between climatic parameters and the number of reported food poisoning cases. The findings revealed that the food poisoning incidence in Malaysia during the 11 years study period was 561 cases per 100 000 population for the whole country. Among the cases, females and the ethnic Malays most frequently experienced food poisoning with incidence rates of 313 cases per 100,000 and 438 cases per 100,000 population over the period of 11 years, respectively. Most of the cases occurred within the active age of 13 to 35 years old. Temperature gave a significant impact on the incidence of food poisoning cases in Selangor (95% CI: 1.033-1.479; p = 0.020), Melaka (95% CI: 1.046-2.080; p = 0.027), Kelantan (95% CI: 1.129-1.958; p = 0.005), and Sabah (95% CI: 1.127-2.690; p = 0.012) while rainfall was a protective factor in Terengganu (95% CI: 0.996-0.999; p = 0.034) at lag 0 month. For a 1.0°C increase in temperature, the excess risk of food poisoning in each state can increase up to 74.1%, whereas for every 50 mm increase in rainfall, the risk of getting food poisoning decreased by almost 10%. The study concludes that climate does affect the distribution of food poisoning cases in Selangor, Melaka, Kelantan, Sabah, and Terengganu. Food poisoning cases in other states are not directly associated with temperature but related to monthly trends and seasonality.

BackgroundThe direct reliance of humans on and their interactions with freshwater ecosystems in the Lower Mekong Basin have given rise to parasitic infections, which is particularly prevalent in Northeast Thailand where raw fish consumption is practiced. This study examined the interactions between environments, ecosystem (dis-)services, human raw fish consumption habits, and raw fish dish sharing on liver fluke infection risk.MethodWater fecal contents and the first intermediate snail host were sampled between June and September of 2019. One hundred twenty questionnaires were surveyed in two villages of different environmental surroundings, one next to a river and the other located inland, in Northeast Thailand. Multivariate regression analyses using linear mixed effect models assessed the influence of social, behavioral and perceptual factors on raw fish consumption frequency, willingness to avoid consumption and liver fluke infection status. Social network analysis compared the degree of raw fish dish sharing between the villages and assessed the probable influence of connections to fish procurement locations and sharing activities on liver fluke infection risk.ResultsHigh abundance of the first intermediate snail host and presence of fecal contamination in water could endanger both villages to ecosystem disservices of parasitic transmission. The river-side village relied more on provisioning ecosystem services than the inland village (29.7% vs. 16.1% of villages) to consume raw fish as their main source of protein. Males in both villages (64.5 and 40.4 days/year for the respective villages) are also likely to consume koi pla and pla som, higher risk fish dishes, more frequently than females (4.1 and 4.3 days/year for the respective villages). The consumption habits of both villages were driven mostly by deriving cultural ecosystem services. Participation in raw fish dish sharing activities significantly reduced the odds of an individual being willing to avoid the consumption (Odds ratio = 0.19). Network analysis suggested that river-side villagers had a more direct raw fish dish sharing interaction and they procured fish from multiple locations; these characteristics might potentially account for more liver fluke infected households in the village.ConclusionVillagers’ raw fish consumption is driven by deriving cultural ecosystem services, and the geographic settings of the villages potentially affect villagers’ fish procurement locations and infection risk. The findings underscore the linkages between villagers and their surrounding ecosystem environments as pertinent determinants for foodborne parasitic disease risk.Graphical

Kudoa hexapunctata n. sp. (Myxozoa: Multivalvulida) from the somatic muscle of Pacific bluefin tuna Thunnus orientalis and re-description of K. neothunni in yellowfin tuna T. albacares