A Hospital Food-Borne Outbreak of Diarrhea Caused by Bacillus cereus: Clinical, Epidemiologic, and Microbiologic Studies

Giannella, Ralph A.; Brasile, L.

doi:10.1093/infdis/139.3.366

Cited by 35 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…Under normal circumstances, B. cereus was found in food at the concentrations <10 3 /g and, mostly, <10 2 /g. In such numbers, the organism may be considered innocuous because the minimum level required to cause illness has been estimated to be >10 5 /g of food (ICMSF 1996); unfortunately, a smaller dose (<10 3 /g) may cause illness in compromised persons (Giannella and Brasile 1979; Szabo et al. 1984).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

STUDIES ON ENTEROTOXIGENIC BACILLUS CEREUS IN RAW MILK AND SOME DAIRY PRODUCTS

Hassan¹,

Al-Ashmawy²,

Meshref³

et al. 2010

Journal of Food Safety

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A total of 150 samples of raw milk, ice cream and yogurt (50 of each) were collected randomly in their packages from different localities in Beni‐Suef governorate, Egypt, to study the presence of Bacillus cereus in these products. B. cereus could be detected in 30, 48 and 2% of examined raw milk, ice cream and yogurt samples with a mean count of 9.11 × 102 ± 4.87 × 102, 6.37 × 103 ± 2.83 × 103 and 6 ± 5.9 cells/mL or g, respectively. All B. cereus isolates showed hemolytic activity; 95% of isolates showed vero cell toxicity and 27.5% of them killed adult mice. B. cereus could not be detected in artificially inoculated yogurt after 24 and 48 h. B. cereus was sensitive to pefloxacin, gentamycin, chloramphenicol and nalidixic acid, whereas all isolates were resistant to colistin sulfate. Public health significance and suggestive control measures are discussed. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS The incidence of contamination of raw milk and ice cream by Bacillus cereus is fairly high, and nearly all of the isolates showed hemolysin and cytotoxic toxin activities, so the risk of food poisoning caused by B. cereus in such products should not be neglected. B. cereus rapidly dies in yogurt, so acidification is a common method of preservation, and as the acidity of fermented milk increased, B. cereus fails to survive. Pefloxacin, gentamicin and chloramphenicol are effective antibiotics against B. cereus infection. B. cereus is highly resistant to colistin sulfate.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

STUDIES ON ENTEROTOXIGENIC BACILLUS CEREUS IN RAW MILK AND SOME DAIRY PRODUCTS

Hassan¹,

Al-Ashmawy²,

Meshref³

et al. 2010

Journal of Food Safety

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“…B. cereus is well-known for its role as a mediator of food-borne illness [1], [2], [3], [4]. The microorganism, which forms spores, is found worldwide in dust, air, and water [5].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Role of Sphingomyelinase in Infectious Diseases Caused by Bacillus cereus

et al. 2012

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Bacillus cereus (B. cereus) is a pathogen in opportunistic infections. Here we show that Bacillus cereus sphingomyelinase (Bc-SMase) is a virulence factor for septicemia. Clinical isolates produced large amounts of Bc-SMase, grew in vivo, and caused death among mice, but ATCC strains isolated from soil did not. A transformant of the ATCC strain carrying a recombinant plasmid containing the Bc-SMase gene grew in vivo, but that with the gene for E53A, which has little enzymatic activity, did not. Administration of an anti-Bc-SMase antibody and immunization against Bc-SMase prevented death caused by the clinical isolates, showing that Bc-SMase plays an important role in the diseases caused by B. cereus. Treatment of mouse macrophages with Bc-SMase resulted in a reduction in the generation of H2O2 and phagocytosis of macrophages induced by peptidoglycan (PGN), but no effect on the release of TNF-α and little release of LDH under our experimental conditions. Confocal laser microscopy showed that the treatment of mouse macrophages with Bc-SMase resulted in the formation of ceramide-rich domains. A photobleaching analysis suggested that the cells treated with Bc-SMase exhibited a reduction in membrane fluidity. The results suggest that Bc-SMase is essential for the hydrolysis of SM in membranes, leading to a reduction in phagocytosis.

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“…These milk samples were incubated at 6°C for five days before plating; a reasonable simulation of storage in a household refrigerator. B cereus counts in foods implicated in food poisoning outbreaks have been reported as low as 1 x 103 cfu/ml (Giannella and Brasile, 1979;Kramer and Gilbert, 1989). Dairy products have been implicated in food poisonings due to B cereus, although rather infrequently (Wad and Wad, 1972;McSwiggan et al, 1975;Schmitt et al, 1976).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluation of the incubated plate count test for pasteurized milk

Sutherland

Limond

MacDonald

et al. 1993

Int J of Dairy Tech

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Factors were examined which may influence bacterial psychrotroph counts obtained by the European Community's directed preincubation test for pasteurized milk. Studies to determine the best protocol for sampling milk indicated that the least counting error was obtained by taking at least five consecutive samples of milk. Increasing the number of replicate plates or making subsamples did not decrease counting error. When milk samples from five commercial dairies were examined over an 11 month period there was a significant difference (p < 0·001) in counts obtained over the period, but this did not seem to be a seasonal effect. The counts between dairies were not significantly different nor was the position in the pasteurization run from which the samples were taken significant. The proportion of samples which failed the test standard was 9.7% over the period. The bacterial flora isolated from plate count agar were identified; Gramnegative rods were the most common isolates. The spiral plater system was compared with the pour plate method in the preincubation test and results were found to be in close agreement, suggesting that the spiral plater could be used to improve the current official methods. Varying the time and temperature of sample preincubation was found to give significantly different results in plate counts. This suggested that preincubation conditons were critical and that variation in conditions even within the specified ranges of the test could significantly alter the bacterial psychrotroph counts obtained. Because of these results, the validity of the statutory test was questioned.

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A Hospital Food-Borne Outbreak of Diarrhea Caused by Bacillus cereus: Clinical, Epidemiologic, and Microbiologic Studies

Cited by 35 publications

References 20 publications

STUDIES ON ENTEROTOXIGENIC BACILLUS CEREUS IN RAW MILK AND SOME DAIRY PRODUCTS

STUDIES ON ENTEROTOXIGENIC BACILLUS CEREUS IN RAW MILK AND SOME DAIRY PRODUCTS

Role of Sphingomyelinase in Infectious Diseases Caused by Bacillus cereus

Evaluation of the incubated plate count test for pasteurized milk

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