The Main Difficulty in Determining a Foodborne Illness Outbreak - Essay Example

 Usually, some cases may be investigated after the outbreak which may fail to get appropriate information since other people thought to be involved would no longer be available which would result in getting skewed information with regards to the outbreak of the foodborne illness. The transmission patterns of the disease are often complex hence there would be a need for getting detailed information that could be helpful in the determination of such outbreaks. As a result of language barriers or poor employee communication, it can also be difficult to get useful information that could be useful when attempting to determine the outbreak of foodborne diseases.

It is often difficult to extract relevant information regarding the role of the food worker in the cause or spread of the outbreak. In some cases, other workers are employed on a contract basis and are bound to shift from place to place hence it would be difficult to identify these and observe for symptoms in case of an outbreak of disease. Workers are sometimes infected with agents such as norovirus, hepatitis A virus (HAV), salmonella, and shigella for instance, hence there would be a need to gather all the information that may be relevant. (i) The Brazilian case of multiple foods in which staphylococcus aureus is cited as an agent where 2000 were hospitalized and 16 died could have easily been avoided if the prepared food was refrigerated to avoid contamination rather than leaving it at room temperature for a long period. (ii) An outbreak caused by fruit salad in California where the hepatitis A virus is an agent was responsible for 166 hospitalizations.

This outbreak could have been avoided if measures were taken to relieve the ill person from duty until fully recovered. (iv) Salmonella Typhimurium caused an outbreak of diseases in Oregon as a result of intentional contamination of salad bars.