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Electronic network for monitoring travellers' diarrhoea and detection of an outbreak caused by Salmonella enteritidis among overseas travellers

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 December 1999

K. OSAKA
Affiliation:
Infectious Disease Surveillance Center, National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Tokyo, Japan
S. INOUYE
Affiliation:
Infectious Disease Surveillance Center, National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Tokyo, Japan
N. OKABE
Affiliation:
Infectious Disease Surveillance Center, National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Tokyo, Japan
K. TANIGUCHI
Affiliation:
Infectious Disease Surveillance Center, National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Tokyo, Japan
H. IZUMIYA
Affiliation:
Department of Bacteriology, National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Tokyo, Japan
H. WATANABE
Affiliation:
Department of Bacteriology, National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Tokyo, Japan
Y. MATSUMOTO
Affiliation:
Narita Airport Quarantine Station, Narita, Japan
T. YOKOTA
Affiliation:
Kansai Airport Quarantine Station, Osaka, Japan
S. HASHIMOTO
Affiliation:
Kansai Airport Quarantine Station, Osaka, Japan
H. SAGARA
Affiliation:
Yokohama City Hospital, Yokohama, Japan
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Abstract

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The Traveller's Diarrhoea Network, by which the Infectious Disease Surveillance Center is electronically connected with two major airport quarantine stations and three infectious disease hospitals, was launched in February 1988 in Japan. The data on travellers' diarrhoea detected is reported weekly by e-mail. Two clusters of infection among travellers returning from Italy were reported by two airport quarantine stations at the end of September 1998. A total of 12 salmonella isolates from 2 clusters were examined. All were identified as Salmonella enteritidis, phage type 4 and showed identical banding patterns on pulsed-field gel electrophoresis. A case-control study showed that the scrambled eggs served at the hotel restaurant in Rome were the likely source of this outbreak. This outbreak could not have been detected promptly and investigated easily without the e-mail network. International exchange of data on travellers' diarrhoea is important for preventing and controlling food-borne illnesses infected abroad.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© 1999 Cambridge University Press