ISSN 2348-313X (Print) International Journal of Life Sciences Research ISSN 2348-3148 (online) Vol. 8, Issue 4, pp: (23-26), Month: October - December 2020, Available at: www.researchpublish.com
Staphylococcal Food Poisoning in an Indigenous Tribe in the Philippines Danilo Andro S. Garcia Jr., (RMT, Ph.D.)*, Gerardo Carmelo B. Salazar, (MD)** Lucena United Doctors Hospital and Medical Center, Quezon, Philippines Calayan Educational Foundation Incorporated, Lucena City, Philippines* Lyceum of the Philippines-St. Cabrini College of Medicine, Santo Tomas, Batangas, Philippines** Corresponding author: Danilo Andro S. Garcia Jr. dagjr@ymail.com*
Abstract: On December 2019, approximately 65 individuals from an Indigenous People (IP) group in the Philippines gathered to celebrate “Halad”, a local term for a feast of thanks giving. Within hours of food consumption, 38 individuals experienced acute abdominal pain, diarrhea, nausea and vomiting. It was a coincident that during this time, our group composed of medical health workers and researchers was in the area doing an immersion to study their practices. 4 members of our team also experienced the same symptoms. No one from the patients want to be brought to the hospital since we are at the mountainous far flung area, so our team created a triage area to examine the patients; diagnostic area to collect stool specimen; nursing care area to provide immediate treatment; and evidence team to gather pertinent sample related to the incident. The trace-back investigation implicated that one of the food served during the “Halad” is positive in culture for enterotoxigenic Staphylococcus aureus as the source of contamination. This staphylococcal food poisoning case resulted from effect of food contamination allowing growth and synthesis of staphylococcal enterotoxin A (SEA) was found by ELISA in canned sardines which was added to the ferns to make up a fresh “fern salad” consumed by the people. Keywords: Staphylococcal Food Poisoning, Enterotoxin A, Indigenous People, Fern salad.
1. BACKGROUND Food-borne diseases are major concerns worldwide. As stated by Le Loir et al. (2003), 66% of the food-borne outbreaks are due to bacteria. One of these bacteria is Staphylococcus aureus which produces Staphylococcal Enterotoxin A (SEA) that causes gastroenteritis. Staphylococci are normally present on human skin and mucous membranes with approximately 20-30% for persistent and 60% for intermittent colonization (Kluytmans et al., 2005). It was reported that Staphylococcal food-borne disease was the second most common cause of food-borne illness. In the study of Holmberg and Blake (1984) proteinaceous foods remain distinguished in causing Staphylococcal Food Poisoning (SFP). The SEA having a molecular weight between 28,000 and 35,000 daltons, belongs to the heterogeneous group of water-soluble but heat-stable globular proteins. As mentioned by Halpin-Dohnalek & Marth (1989), strains of Staphylococcus produces enterotoxin as affected by physical and chemical factors. Outbreaks are most often associated with processed foods, poultry products, sauces, dairy products, and bakery products. Staphylococcal food poisoning is frequently an underreported gastrointestinal illness since it is relatively mild and usually not life-threatening, but it is widespread worldwide. There are several outbreak of gastroenteritis due to SEA. As reported by Holmberg and Blake (1984), in a school district in the United States, food poisoning due to 2% chocolate milk containing SEA; Do Carmo et al. (2004), also studied the 4000 patients who experienced acute gastroenteritis after attended a gathering to celebrate a Catholic priest's ordination in Minas Gerais, Brazil; and an extensive outbreak of staphylococcal food poisoning occurred in Kansai district in Japan, as stated by Asao (2003).
Page | 23 Research Publish Journals