Question

The outbreak of foodborne disease is a worldwide problem. Let's say a number of people show the same illness due to the consumption of the same contaminated food or drink. If you were

a nurse working in one of the hospitals where the outbreak happened; what kind of samples would you ask patients to provide upon arrival? Why (elaborate)?

Answer 1

Foodborne disease is a infection acquired through the consumption of contaminated food or water. It caused by bacteria, virus and parasites.

The most of the patient with food borne illness presented with the complaint of diarrhoea and vomiting.

Stool collection should be encouraged whenever a person is experiencing or has recently
experienced a diarrhoeal illness. If possible,
requests for stool samples should begin during the initial food-borne illness report, and may continue during the outbreak investigation.
• Collection of at least five stool
specimens is usually sufficient to confirm the
diagnosis.
• Laboratory testing may still be beneficial even
after symptoms have ceased. For many food-
borne illnesses, an ill person may continue to
shed the pathogen in their stool even a few
days after symptoms have disappeared and
stool appears normal.
• Stool specimens are most useful for
microbiological diagnosis if collected soon
after onset of diarrhoea (for viruses < 48
hours and for bacteria < 4 days), and
preferably before the initiation of antibiotic
therapy.
• Stool is the preferred specimen for culture of
bacterial, viral and parasitic diarrhoeal
pathogens.
• Rectal swabs showing faeces may be
collected from infants (where collection of
stool sample may not be possible). They are
not recommended for the diagnosis of
viruses.
The main objective of laboratory analysis is

•Confirm the clinical diagnosis by isolating the pathogen

•ensure proper identification of disease

•determine the same organism present on the implicated food source.

Most food-borne infections are diagnosed through the identification of the pathogen in stool collected from infected persons.it should be collected in clean dry sample container.

Stool specimens should be transported at 4-8°C. Bacterial yields may fall significantly if specimens are not processed within 48hrs of collection. Shigella are particularly sensitive to elevated temperature.

So most of the person with foodborne illness presenting with diarrhoea only. So the stool specimen test is to be done, to identify the organism.