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American Journal of Epidemiology Vol. 103, No. 6: 589-594
Copyright © 1976 by The Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health

research-article

AN OUTBREAK OF BACILLUS CEREUS FOOD POISONING RESULTING FROM CONTAMINATED VEGETABLE SPROUTS

BENJAMIN L. PORTNOY1, JOHN M. GOEPFERT2 and STANLEY M. HARMON3

1Formerly, EIS Officer, Bureau of Epidemiology, Center for Disease Control Atlanta, GA. Currently, Program in Infectious Diseases, University of Texas Medical School PO Box 20708, Houston, TX 77025
2Food Research Institute, University of Wisconsin Madison, WI
3Division of Microbiology, Food and Drug Administration Washington, DC

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In an outbreak of gastrointestinal illness caused by consumption of homegrown 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 casas 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 107 per gram. B. cereus isolated from the incriminated sprouts exhibited entero-toxigenic 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.

food poisoning; enterotoxins; Bacillus cereus


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