Abstract
IntroductionFoodborne diseases (FBD) have emerged as a major public health problem worldwide. Though the global burden of FBD is currently unknown, foodborne diarrhoeal diseases kill 1.9 million children globally every year. On 25th September 2014, health authorities in Eastern Region of Ghana were alerted of a suspected FBD outbreak involving patrons of a community food joint. We investigated to determine the magnitude, source and implement control and preventive measures.MethodsA retrospective cohort study was conducted. We reviewed medical records for data on demographics and clinical features. A suspected foodborne disease was any person in the affected community with abdominal pain, vomiting and or diarrhea between 25th and 30th September 2014 and had eaten from the food joint. We conducted active case search, descriptive data analysis and calculated food specific attack rate ratios (ARR) and their corresponding 95% confidence intervals.ResultsOf 43 case-patients, 44.2% (19/43) were males; median age was 19 years (interquartile range: 17-24 years). Overall attack rate was 43.4% (43/99) with no fatality. Case counts rose sharply for four hours to a peak and fell to baseline levels after 12 hours. Compared to those who ate other food items, patrons who ate “waakye” and “shitor” were more likely to develop foodborne disease [ARR = 4.1 (95% CI = 1.09-15.63)]. Food samples and specimens from case-patients were unavailable for testing. Laboratory diagnostic capacity was also weak.ConclusionA point source FBD outbreak linked to probable contaminated “waakye” and or “shitor” occurred. Missed opportunities for definitive diagnosis highlighted the need for strengthening local response capacity.
Highlights
Foodborne diseases (FBD) have emerged as a major public health problem worldwide
The index case was a 34 year old male Senior High School teacher in the affected community who presented to the District Health Centre on the 25th of September 2014 with abdominal pain, vomiting and watery diarrhea approximately 3-4 hours after eating food purchased from the popular food joint
He was detained, managed and discharged the following morning. He was stable on the 29th September 2014; vomiting and diarrhea had ceased but he complained of some residual abdominal pain for which he was seeking care at a private clinic
Summary
Foodborne diseases (FBD) have emerged as a major public health problem worldwide. Though the global burden of FBD is currently unknown, foodborne diarrhoeal diseases kill 1.9 million children globally every year. On 25th September 2014, health authorities in Eastern Region of Ghana were alerted of a suspected FBD outbreak involving patrons of a community food joint. A group of residents mostly students from a local community in Adeiso, in the Upper West Akim District of the Eastern Region of Ghana presented to the district health centre with complaints of sudden onset of abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea. They had all eaten from a particular food vendor in the community on that particular day.
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