OUTBREAK OF SALMONELLA NAPOLI INFECTION CAUSED BY CONTAMINATED CHOCOLATE BARS

O. N. Gill*, C. L.R. Bartlett, P. N. Sockett, M. S.B. Vaile, B. Rowe, R. J. Gilbert, C. Dulake, H. C. Murrell, S. Salmaso

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

123 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

An outbreak of Salmonella napoli infection in England and Wales in 1982 was detected by the surveillance of routine reports of salmonella infections from hospital and public-health laboratories. Epidemiological investigation quickly identified two types of small chocolate-covered bars, imported from Italy, as the vehicles of infection, and subsequently both were found to be contaminated with the organism. The prompt recognition of this outbreak and rapid identification of the vehicle of infection enabled fourfifths of the consignment of contaminated chocolate to be withdrawn from the market. The 245 reported cases resulted from the sale of 600 000 bars; as these were presumably only a small fraction of the total number of cases, it is likely that many thousands of infections were prevented.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)574-577
Number of pages4
JournalThe Lancet
Volume321
Issue number8324
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 12 Mar 1983
Externally publishedYes

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