Kobe City: Food Poisoning Incidents

Press Release (August 25, 2023)
Food Sanitation Division, Health Bureau

Overview

On

Sunday, August 20, Monday, August 21, and Wednesday, August 23, 2023, two medical institutions in Kobe City and one in Kawasaki City each submitted a report of an outbreak of enterohemorrhagic E. coli (O157VT2) infection to their respective health departments, totaling three

persons,

The three were found to have eaten at “Yakiniku Gyusha” separately from Wednesday, August 9 to Saturday, August 12.

As a result of an investigation by the Western Sanitation Surveillance Office of the Public Health Center, it was found that 9 people, including the above 3 people, out of 14 people in 5 groups of 22 who used the facility between Wednesday, August 9 and Saturday, August 12, had symptoms of diarrhea, abdominal pain, fever, etc. since Friday, August 11.

Since there was no common meal other than the one served at the facility, the similarity of the patients’ illnesses, the absence of any events other than the meals that raised suspicions of infection, the identical genotypes of enterohemorrhagic E. coli O157 detected in the stools of two of the three patients who reported the outbreak, and the physician who examined the patients, we concluded that the outbreak of food poisoning was caused by the same bacteria as the one that caused the illness in the patients. The director of the Kobe City Public Health Center determined that the food poisoning was caused by food served at the facility and ordered the facility to suspend operations (for three days from Friday, August 25 to Sunday, August 27).

All patients are recovering from the illness.

The

establishment that

caused the

incident

is

now recovering from the

disease

. (Wednesday), August 9, 10, 12 (Thursday), 12 (Saturday)

Date of onset:

August 11 (Friday), 20:00 (first patient)

Main

symptoms

: diarrhea, abdominal pain, fever

Patient’s condition

9 (

8

males aged 8-58, 1 female aged 24)

Main

dishes

: Halami, ribs, salt tongue, loin, mixed hormone, top minnow, ute, ddeokchang, yukke (roast beef), sausage, kimchi, rice, etc.