Two outbreaks of Salmonella enteritidis phage type 4 infection associated with the consumption of fresh shell-egg products

Abstract

In 1988 there were two outbreaks of infection with Salmonella enteritidis phage type 4 in adjacent local authorities. The first affected 18 of 75 helpers and guests who attended a private function. Investigations revealed that home-made vanilla ice-cream containing uncooked eggs was the vehicle of infection and the causative organism was identified at the premises of the egg producer. The second affected 84 of 422 delegates attending a conference dinner, and 12 of 50 hotel staff at risk. A dessert made with lightly-cooked egg yolk and raw egg white was associated with infection, and the epidemic strain was cultured from the shell of an egg and an environmental sample from the producer's farm. It is of interest that one outbreak involved free-range and one battery-produced eggs, and that in one the vehicle was prepared at home and in the other in commercial premises. In neither incident was any deficiency in standards of egg production or catering practice discovered.

Salmonella enteritidis phage type 4 from the contents of intact eggs: a study involving naturally infected hens

“…All salmonella-like colonies were confirmed by biochemical and serological testing and were sent to the PHLS Division of Enteric Pathogens (DEP) for confirmation and phage typing. [5][6][7][8] salmonellas.…”

The prevalence of Salmonella enteritidis and other Salmonella spp. among Canadian registered commercial layer flocks

“…Outbreaks of disease by S. enteritidis in humans have been associated with the consumption of eggs or foods that contain eggs [1,4,[9][10][11][12][13]. It has been suggested that S. enteritidis may infect eggs by transovarian transmission [12,14].…”

Distribution ofSalmonella enteritidisphage types in Canada

“…Although the order of frequency of these common serotypes varied from year to year, S. enteritidis has remained one of the five most frequent serotypes among human isolates during these years [1][2][3]. However recently, S. enteritidis has been implicated in outbreaks in Canada [3], the USA [4,5], the UK [6,7], and in western European countries (Finland, France, West Germany, Denmark, Spain and Portugal) [8,9]. Poultry or poultry products have been the main source of human infections [6,10]; and recently, eggs have also been incriminated in human infections in the UK, Spain and northeastern US [5,9,11].…”