WEBVTT

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[Tone]

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[National Library of Medicine HF 1864, This transfer made: 01/16/-6, Length: 00:11:55]

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[Music]

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[The U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare

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Public Health Service Presents]

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[A Communicable Disease Center Production]

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[In cooperation with North Carolina State Board of Health]

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[Food Sanitation Series,

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An Outbreak of Staphylococcus Intoxication]

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[Acknowledgement is made to the bakeries which made their facilities

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available for this demonstration of a Staphylococcus outbreak.]

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[Telephone ringing]

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[Narrator:] A telephone ringing in the night.

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A worried voice calling on the doctor for help.

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In any language, this spells trouble.

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Nausea, vomiting, abdominal cramps, and diarrhea.

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[Telephone ringing]

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Trouble and still more of the same.

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[Telephone ringing]

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The number and severity of the symptoms vary,

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but they all fit a pattern.

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It looks as if the doctor has an outbreak

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of acute gastroenteritis on his hands.

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He won't get much rest this night.

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What could have caused the outbreak?

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Suppose we go back several hours earlier in the evening

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and look in on a certain restaurant and a dinner party

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which an executive is giving his employees.

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Recognize any of them?

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It's hard to believe that these are the same people, isn't it?

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It's quite an event.

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They look healthy, happy, and well-fed.

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What caused such a violent outbreak of sickness

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only a little more than three hours after the dinner?

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Out of the total of 23 persons attending this dinner,

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14 became ill with varying degrees of nausea,

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vomiting, abdominal cramps, and diarrhea.

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It was a good dinner.

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They had ham, fried cabbage, sweet potatoes, a very tasty salad,

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chocolate eclairs for dessert, and plenty of good, hot coffee.

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Still, something went wrong.

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Let's see exactly what did happen

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to cause so much suffering and misery.

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The water was ruled out as a contaminating agent

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since it came from the city water supply, a pure one,

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and no similar outbreaks were reported elsewhere

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in town at that time.

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The coffee was made fresh and served piping hot.

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The only milk served was Grade A pasteurized

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and refrigerated.

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The bread was good and fresh.

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The salad and vegetables were ruled out as suspects

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due to the mixed incidents among the guests

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of those who became ill and those who did not.

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The meat was suspected because all of the 14 people

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who became ill had eaten ham.

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And the chocolate eclairs were incriminated in the same way.

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Everyone had eaten eclairs.

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Laboratory tests confirmed the pastry as the contaminating agent

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by revealing colonies of staphylococci in the filling.

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This is Staphylococcus aureus, some strains of which produce

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a toxin in the food before ingestion, causing the most common type

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of all food poisonings.

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Now let's find out how this poison developed in the pastry filling.

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From the restaurant manager it was learned

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that although all the other foods served were prepared in their kitchen,

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the pastries had been ordered from a bakery on the other side of town.

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They were delivered in the late afternoon,

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shortly before the dinner was served.

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He remembered very distinctly

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that they were promptly refrigerated.

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At the bakery, we found the source of our trouble.

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This baker didn't know it, but he was the carrier.

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For this superficial skin infection on his forefinger

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contained colonies of staphylococci which

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were transferred to the pastry filling.

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We're not sure exactly when and how the organisms

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were transferred from the infection to the eclairs,

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but we're certain there was ample opportunity.

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We investigated the bakery thoroughly,

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and the overall operation was excellent.

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The  eclairs were made early in the morning

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on the day of the dinner.

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The ingredients were good.

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The bakery and the baker were clean.

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The only breakdown in sanitary precautions was this

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particular baker's infected finger.

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A superficial skin infection.

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A little thing in a way, but extremely important

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to the people who became ill.

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The pastries were finished.

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And it was about an hour before the deliveryman

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picked them up for delivery to the restaurant.

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Uh-oh, motor trouble.

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The driver didn't know much about engines

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so he decided to call a garage for help.

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It was probably about this time

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that the staphylococcus organisms from the baker's

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infected finger began to grow in the eclairs.

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And in growing, they manufactured a poison.

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The poison which made the people at the party so sick.

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The driver found a telephone and called a garage.

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Then he waited.

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The mechanic didn't think the job would take long.

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So he waited.

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And waited.

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And all this time, the staphylococcus organisms

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were growing and manufacturing poison in the eclairs.

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Finally, he decided to call the bakery

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and report his delay.

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He was told to go have his lunch

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and wait a reasonable length of time.

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Then when he returned to the garage, he just had to wait.

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And wait in the uncomfortably hot garage.

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After several hours delay, the repairs were finally completed,

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and the driver started on his route.

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He had some other deliveries to make.

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So the organisms in the eclairs had still more time to grow.

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The pastry filling was probably

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pretty well contaminated by this time.

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It was late in the afternoon before the pastries

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were delivered to the restaurant.

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In fact, it had been more than six hours since the pastries

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were contaminated by the baker's infected finger.

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By this time, the eclairs were thoroughly

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saturated with a poison from the organisms.

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Our story involved eclairs, but it could just as well have been meat,

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milk, milk products, other pastries, or any one of a long list of foods.

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With similar circumstances, many foods could have caused this outbreak.

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Eliminate either the baker's infected finger,

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or the long delay in the truck,

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and this outbreak of staphylococcus intoxication

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could not have occurred.

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There would have been no poison in the food and the boss's dinner party

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would have been nothing more than a pleasant evening,

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where everyone enjoyed a fine meal and had a good time.

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[The End, CDC M-148b]