Food poisoning dueto consumption of black cayman meat (Melanosuchus niger) in the Nazareth indigenous school, Amazonas, April 1997

Abstract

Food poisoning is caused by consumption of food in bad conditions, unproperly stocked or contaminated with chemical or biological agents. The recent incorporation to surveillance of this kind of events in the Amazonas Department Health Office has allowed the identification of such outbreaks in the region. In April 1997, 30 patients were reported to the Epidemiology Office at the Amazonas Health Office, who had been treated at the San Rafael Hospital of Leticia, for abdominal pain, vomiting and cephalalgya. The patients were adolescent indigenous students of the female school of Nazareth who shared a common exposure, consumption of reheated fish the previous day. The present outbreak study showed that black cayman (Melanosuchusniger) meat was involved in the food poisoning outbreak, and Bacillus cereus was isolated from the sampled specimens. The meat was to be sold as 'dry fish' in Santa Fe de Bogotá, as this kind of fish has a great demand during the Holy Week season.