Salmonella Outbreak among Railway and Airline Passengers

Abstract

A widespread outbreak by Salmonella infantis, infecting a total of 226 people, occurred in Finland at the beginning of August 1986. Of those infected, 107 were railway passengers, 91 were airline passengers and 28 were employed in a food processing establishment. The outbreak among the railway passengers was caused by egg sandwiches, the airline passengers were infected by a meal served on board and the catering employees by the breakfast served in the establishment. The outbreak was caused by food prepared in the establishment’s kitchen. The employees’ breakfasts had probably been contaminated by an employee who was a symptom-free Salmonella infantis carrier, and a number of the employees subsequently became infected, leading to widespread contamination of the food prepared in the establishment. The spread of the outbreak was further influenced by a heatwave at the time and by shortcomings in the cold storage facilities. The kitchen’s hygiene supervision and the quality control of its output were reorganized after the outbreak.

Sammanfattning

I början av augusti 1986 utbröt en för finländska förhällanden omfattande Salmonella infantis epidemi, som berörde hela landet, där 226 personer smittades. Av dem som fick smittan var 107 tågresenärer, 91 flygresenärer samt 28 anställda vid en anläggning för livsmedelsproduction. Tågresenärerna smittades av äggsmörgåsar, flygresenärerna av en måltid ombord på planet och livsmedelspersonalen av ett morgonmål som framställts och serverats på arbetsplatsen. Uppenbarligen var det en symptomfri Salmonella inf antis smittad arbetstagare som överförde smittan tili personalen. Följden blev en omfattande kontamination av anläggningens producter. Det varma vädret och brister i kylförvaringen bidrog också till epidemins utbrott. Övervakningen av hygienen på anläggningen har omorganiserats efter epidemin.