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Sprouts have been linked to a foodborne outbreak among factory workers in Japan; the sprouts likely came from a grower linked to an earlier foodborne outbreak among Japanese schoolchildren.
Atlanta—Radish sprouts likely caused 47 Japanese factory workers to become ill with Escherichia coli O157:H7 infection, and one to die, in July 1996, a week after thousands of Japanese schoolchildren got food poisoning, probably from sprouts, says an article in the upcoming issue of Emerging Infectious Diseases, CDC's peer-reviewed journal, which tracks new and reemerging infections worldwide.
E. coli O157:H7 is one of hundreds of strains of the bacterium Escherichia coli. Although most E. coli are harmless and live in the intestines of healthy humans and animals, O157:H7 produces a powerful toxin and can cause severe illness. The bacterium was first recognized as a cause of illness in 1982 during an outbreak of severe bloody diarrhea; the outbreak was traced to contaminated hamburgers. Since then, most infections have come from eating undercooked ground beef.
From May to August 1996, E. coli O157:H7 was responsible for approximately 10,000 illnesses in Japan. The largest outbreak, in Sakai City, involved more than 6,000 schoolchildren. Investigation of the outbreak found that radish sprouts served at their school lunch were the most likely cause.
A week after the Sakai City outbreak, 35 miles away in Kyoto, a young factory worker went to a local clinic with diarrhea. Then a second worker got sick. After a third worker got sick and died, the factory closed its cafeteria, and an investigation began to determine what had caused the illness.
Researchers turned up 47 workers with the infection. The investigation pointed to radish sprouts as the likely culprit. Analyses of the genetic material of the E. coli O157:H7 bacteria from the Sakai City outbreak and those from the Kyoto outbreak showed that the bacteria looked the same. Researchers also found that one of the four different growers the factory used to supply radish sprouts also provided sprouts to the Sakai City schools and that the sprouts had been shipped on the same day. Given these findings, the researchers concluded, "...the outbreak of E. coli O157:H7 infection among Kyoto factory workers was most likely caused by contaminated radish sprouts."
For more information, contact CDC Media Relations Division, Office of Communication, at 404-639-3286. Access the full article at http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/EID/vol5no3/watanabe.htm. All material in Emerging Infectious Diseases is in the public domain and may be used without special permission; proper citation, however, is appreciated.
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