Biomaterial Database

An outbreak of Bacillus cereus food poisoning resulting from contaminated vegetable sprouts. 1976

B L Portnoy, and J M Goepfert, and S M Harmon

In an outbreak of gastrointestinal illness caused by consumption of home-grown raw vegetable sprouts contaminated by Bacillus cereus, victims developed symptoms after an incubation period of 6-15 hours. Four persons initially experienced nausea and vomiting, and this was followed in 3 cases by abdominal cramps and diarrhea. Bacteriologic investigation indicated that B. cereus on unsprouted seeds proliferated during germination in a commercially sold seed sprouting kit and reached levels in excess of 10(7) per gram. B. cereus isolated from the incriminated sprouts exhibited enterotoxigenic activity when tested by the ligated rabbit ileal loop technique, the dermal reaction in guinea pigs, and the rabbit skin capillary permeability test. The diversity of symptoms and incubation periods attributed to B. cereus requires analysis for this often overlooked organism whenever food-borne gastroenteritis is suspected.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D008875	Middle Aged	An adult aged 45 - 64 years.	Middle Age
D002648	Child	A person 6 to 12 years of age. An individual 2 to 5 years old is CHILD, PRESCHOOL.	Children
D004196	Disease Outbreaks	Sudden increase in the incidence of a disease. The concept includes EPIDEMICS and PANDEMICS.	Outbreaks,Infectious Disease Outbreaks,Disease Outbreak,Disease Outbreak, Infectious,Disease Outbreaks, Infectious,Infectious Disease Outbreak,Outbreak, Disease,Outbreak, Infectious Disease,Outbreaks, Disease,Outbreaks, Infectious Disease
D004768	Enterotoxins	Substances that are toxic to the intestinal tract causing vomiting, diarrhea, etc.; most common enterotoxins are produced by bacteria.	Staphylococcal Enterotoxin,Enterotoxin,Staphylococcal Enterotoxins,Enterotoxin, Staphylococcal,Enterotoxins, Staphylococcal
D005260	Female		Females
D005506	Food Contamination	The presence in food of harmful, unpalatable, or otherwise objectionable foreign substances, e.g. chemicals, microorganisms or diluents, before, during, or after processing or storage.	Food Adulteration,Adulteration, Food,Adulterations, Food,Contamination, Food,Contaminations, Food,Food Adulterations,Food Contaminations
D005516	Food Microbiology	The presence of bacteria, viruses, and fungi in food and food products. This term is not restricted to pathogenic organisms: the presence of various non-pathogenic bacteria and fungi in cheeses and wines, for example, is included in this concept.	Microbiology, Food
D005517	Foodborne Diseases	Acute illnesses, usually affecting the GASTROINTESTINAL TRACT, brought on by consuming contaminated food or beverages. Most of these diseases are infectious, caused by a variety of bacteria, viruses, or parasites that can be foodborne. Sometimes the diseases are caused by harmful toxins from the microbes or other chemicals present in the food. Especially in the latter case, the condition is often called food poisoning.	Food Poisoning,Food-borne Disease,Food-borne Illness,Foodborne Disease,Foodborne Illness,Food-borne Diseases,Food-borne Illnesses,Foodborne Illnesses,Poisoning, Food,Disease, Food-borne,Disease, Foodborne,Food Poisonings,Food borne Disease,Food borne Diseases,Food borne Illness,Food borne Illnesses,Illness, Food-borne,Illness, Foodborne,Illnesses, Foodborne
D006801	Humans	Members of the species Homo sapiens.	Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D000293	Adolescent	A person 13 to 18 years of age.	Adolescence,Youth,Adolescents,Adolescents, Female,Adolescents, Male,Teenagers,Teens,Adolescent, Female,Adolescent, Male,Female Adolescent,Female Adolescents,Male Adolescent,Male Adolescents,Teen,Teenager,Youths