Giuseppe
Emeritus
[Source: Eurosurveillance, full text: (LINK). Abstract, edited.]
Eurosurveillance, Volume 16, Issue 50, 15 December 2011
Surveillance and outbreak reports
Outbreak of Salmonella Montevideo associated with a dietary food supplement flagged in the Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF) in Germany, 2010
P St?cker (
)<SUP>1</SUP><SUP>,2</SUP><SUP>,3</SUP>, B Rosner<SUP>3</SUP>, D Werber<SUP>3</SUP>, M Kirchner<SUP>4</SUP>, A Reinecke<SUP>5</SUP>, H Wichmann-Schauer<SUP>5</SUP>, R Prager<SUP>6</SUP>, W Rabsch<SUP>6</SUP>, C Frank<SUP>3</SUP><SUP>,7</SUP>
Citation style for this article: St?cker P, Rosner B, Werber D, Kirchner M, Reinecke A, Wichmann-Schauer H, Prager R, Rabsch W, Frank C. Outbreak of Salmonella Montevideo associated with a dietary food supplement flagged in the Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF) in Germany, 2010. Euro Surveill. 2011;16(50)
ii=20040. Available online: http://www.eurosurveillance.org/ViewArticle.aspx?ArticleId=20040
Date of submission: 20 June 2011 <HR>In March 2010 the Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF) was used to inform about Salmonella Montevideo in a herbal food supplement, formulated in capsules, distributed under a Dutch label in Germany. Simultaneous to the first RASFF notice, in the last two weeks of March 2010 an unusual number of 15 infections with S. Montevideo was notified within the electronic reporting system for infectious diseases at the Robert Koch Institute. Adult women (median age: 43, range: 1?90 years) were mainly affected. An outbreak was suspected and the food supplement hypothesised to be its vehicle. Cases were notified from six federal states throughout Germany, which required efficient coordination of information and activities. A case?control study (n=55) among adult women showed an association between consumption of the specific food supplement and the disease (odds ratio (OR): 27.5, 95% confidence interval (CI): 3.1?infinity, p-value=0.002). Restricting the case?control study to the period when the outbreak peaked (between 29 March and 11 April 2010) resulted in an OR of 43.5 (95% CI: 4.8?infinity, p-value=0.001). Trace-back of the supplement?s main ingredient, hemp seed flour, and subsequent microbiological testing by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis supported its likely role in transmission. This outbreak investigation illustrates that information from RASFF may aid in hypothesis generation in outbreak investigations, though likely late in the outbreak.
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Eurosurveillance, Volume 16, Issue 50, 15 December 2011
Surveillance and outbreak reports
Outbreak of Salmonella Montevideo associated with a dietary food supplement flagged in the Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF) in Germany, 2010
P St?cker (
- Postgraduate Training for Applied Epidemiology (PAE, German Field Epidemiology Training Programme), Robert Koch Institute, Department for Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Berlin, Germany
- European Programme for Intervention Epidemiology Training (EPIET), European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), Stockholm, Sweden
- Robert Koch Institute, Department Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Berlin, Germany
- Governmental Institute of Public Health of Lower Saxony, Hannover, Germany
- Federal Institute for Risk Assessment, Berlin, Germany
- National Reference Centre for Salmonella and other Enterics, Robert Koch Institute, Wernigerode Branch, Germany
- Institute for Hygiene and Public Health, University of Bonn, Germany
Citation style for this article: St?cker P, Rosner B, Werber D, Kirchner M, Reinecke A, Wichmann-Schauer H, Prager R, Rabsch W, Frank C. Outbreak of Salmonella Montevideo associated with a dietary food supplement flagged in the Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF) in Germany, 2010. Euro Surveill. 2011;16(50)
ii=20040. Available online: http://www.eurosurveillance.org/ViewArticle.aspx?ArticleId=20040 Date of submission: 20 June 2011 <HR>In March 2010 the Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF) was used to inform about Salmonella Montevideo in a herbal food supplement, formulated in capsules, distributed under a Dutch label in Germany. Simultaneous to the first RASFF notice, in the last two weeks of March 2010 an unusual number of 15 infections with S. Montevideo was notified within the electronic reporting system for infectious diseases at the Robert Koch Institute. Adult women (median age: 43, range: 1?90 years) were mainly affected. An outbreak was suspected and the food supplement hypothesised to be its vehicle. Cases were notified from six federal states throughout Germany, which required efficient coordination of information and activities. A case?control study (n=55) among adult women showed an association between consumption of the specific food supplement and the disease (odds ratio (OR): 27.5, 95% confidence interval (CI): 3.1?infinity, p-value=0.002). Restricting the case?control study to the period when the outbreak peaked (between 29 March and 11 April 2010) resulted in an OR of 43.5 (95% CI: 4.8?infinity, p-value=0.001). Trace-back of the supplement?s main ingredient, hemp seed flour, and subsequent microbiological testing by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis supported its likely role in transmission. This outbreak investigation illustrates that information from RASFF may aid in hypothesis generation in outbreak investigations, though likely late in the outbreak.