Escherichia coli O157:H7 Japan · 1996

E. coli O157:H7 outbreaks among schoolchildren, Sakai City and Japan, 1996

WHO reported 9,578 E. coli O157:H7 cases in Japan and 11 deaths as of 26 August 1996. In Sakai City, 6,309 schoolchildren and 92 staff from 62 municipal elementary schools were affected, with 160 further cases mainly in family members, and two girls with haemolytic uraemic syndrome died. WHO said the contaminated food had not been identified with certainty. A 1999 study in CDC's Emerging Infectious Diseases journal described radish sprouts as the most likely cause of the Sakai outbreak, while noting the bacterium was not isolated from sprouts.^1,2

Counts as reported on 26 August 1996.¹ Food vehicle: School lunches, with white radish sprouts judged the most likely vehicle in later studies.

Timeline

1. 13 July 1996Start of the Sakai City outbreak among primary school children.²
2. 18 July 1996Hospitalisations in Sakai peaked at 534, according to WHO.¹
3. 8 August 1996Last new cases reported in Sakai, according to WHO.¹
4. 28 August 1996WHO update published.¹

Sources

1. World Health Organization, 1996, Enterohaemorrhagic Escherichia coli in Japan, Update (Disease Outbreak News) (28 August 1996)
2. US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Emerging Infectious Diseases, Factory Outbreak of Escherichia coli O157:H7 Infection in Japan (Emerging Infectious Diseases 5(3)) (June 1999)