Title
A foodborne outbreak of brucellosis at a police station cafeteria, Lima, Peru
Date Issued
01 March 2013
Access level
open access
Resource Type
journal article
Abstract
Brucella melitensis is highly infectious for humans and can be transmitted to humans in a number of epidemiological contexts. Within the context of an ongoing brucellosis surveillance project, an outbreak at a Peruvian police officer cafeteria was discovered, which led to active surveillance (serology, blood culture) for additional cases among 49 police officers who had also eaten there. The cohort was followed up to 18 months regardless of treatment or symptoms. Active surveillance estimated the attack rate at 26.5% (13 of 49). Blood cultures from four cases were positive; these isolates were indistinguishable using multiple locus variable number tandem repeat analysis. This investigation indicates the importance of case tracking and active surveillance for brucellosis in the context of potential common source exposure. These results provide rationale for public health investigations of brucellosis index cases including the bioterrorism-related dissemination of Brucella. Copyright © 2013 by The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.
Start page
552
End page
558
Volume
88
Issue
3
Language
English
OCDE Knowledge area
Epidemiología Medicina tropical
Scopus EID
2-s2.0-84877100363
PubMed ID
Source
American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene
ISSN of the container
00029637
Sponsor(s)
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases - K24AI068903, U01AI075420. Medical Research Council - MR/K007467/1.
Sources of information: Directorio de Producción Científica Scopus