Abstract
Abstract
Background: On October 6, 2019, 55 residents of Bala'ama town in Al-Mafraq, Jordan, were admitted to the local health care center with symptoms of food poisoning.
Objective: This study aimed to identify the cause of the food poisoning outbreak.
Methods: This descriptive study is a cross-sectional study. Data were obtained from the Directorate of Communicable Diseases in the Ministry of Health. A total of 25 stool samples from patients and an additional 2 samples from workers in the restaurant were collected and tested. An environmental survey of the food and water was also conducted.
Results: The period of the outbreak was from October 6 to 10, 2019. The highest proportion of patients were children under 5 years of age. More females than males were affected. Stool test results were positive for Shigella sonnei in 15 samples and rotavirus in 7 samples. Chloride concentration was 0 in the water samples.
Conclusions: The food poisoning outbreak was caused by consumption of hummus from a neighborhood restaurant, which was contaminated with S. sonnei.
doi:10.2196/36438
Keywords
Edited by Y Khader; This is a non–peer-reviewed article. submitted 14.01.22; accepted 24.01.22; published 21.02.22
Copyright©Mais Alkhalili. Originally published in Iproceedings (https://www.iproc.org), 21.02.2022.
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