All Journals > Clinical Infectious Diseases > 1 July 2006 > Outbreak of Brainerd Diarrhea

Article Tools

Search for Related Articles

  • By Author
  • Search In

Announcements

CID LISTED AMONG
“MOST INFLUENTIAL”

Clinical Infectious Diseases has been named as one of the "100 Most Influential Journals in Biology and Medicine" of the past 100 years by the Special Libraries Association. The list was compiled by the 680-plus members of SLA’s Biomedical and Life Sciences Division.

See the full list here.

Source: The DBIO 100, the 100 Most Influential Journals in Biology & Medicine over the last 100 Years

In the News

Featured in MSNBC
"Germs and flu are up; infection control is down" June 9, 2009
Trends in the Incidence of Methicillin‐Resistant Staphylococcus aureus Infection in Children’s Hospitals in the United States
Jeffrey S. Gerber, Susan E. Coffin, Sarah A. Smathers, and Theoklis E. Zaoutis
Just this week, researchers reported that the incidence of MRSA infections among children admitted to pediatric hospitals in the United States more than tripled between 2002 and 2007. Researchers at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and the University of Pennsylvania found cases of MRSA jumped from 6.7 per 1,000 admissions in 2002 to 21.1 cases per 1,000 admissions in 2007, according to a study released online Monday in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases.

Featured in Toronto Star
"Pigs, viruses and politics" May 2, 2009
Are Swine Workers in the United States at Increased Risk of Infection with Zoonotic Influenza Virus?
Kendall P. Myers, Christopher W. Olsen, Sharon F. Setterquist, Ana W. Capuano, Kelley J. Donham, Eileen L. Thacker, James A. Merchant, and Gregory C. Gray
Another study, this one published in the U.S. journal Clinical Infectious Diseases in 2006, found that workers in meat-processing plants have a greater likelihood of being infected by some version of the H1N1 flu virus than the general population (the odds of pig farmers getting the disease are significantly greater again).

Featured in Philadelphia Inquirer
"A shot in the arm for vaccines" April 19, 2009
Vaccines: Pneumococcal Vaccination of Elderly Adults: New Paradigms for Protection
Lisa A. Jackson and Edward N. Janoff
Every year, an estimated 915,000 people 65 and older get pneumonia, and 40 percent of them end up in hospitals, according to a 2004 paper in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases. Pneumonia often kills older people, said Richard Stefanacci, a geriatrician at the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia.

1 July 2006

Volume 43, Number 1
Clinical Infectious Diseases 2006;43:55–61
© 2006 by the Infectious Diseases Society of America. All rights reserved.
1058-4838/2006/4301-0008$15.00
DOI: 10.1086/504805
MAJOR ARTICLE

A Large Outbreak of Brainerd Diarrhea Associated with a Restaurant in the Red River Valley, Texas

Akiko C. Kimura,1,a

Paul Mead,1

Brad Walsh,4

Edie Alfano,2

Shellie Kolavic Gray,4,a

Lisa Durso,1

Charles Humphrey,3

Stephan S. Monroe,3

Govinda Visvesvera,2

Nancy Puhr,1

Wun‐Ju Shieh,3

Mark Eberhard,2

Robert M. Hoekstra,1 and

Eric D. Mintz1

Divisions of 1Bacterial and Mycotic Diseases, 2Parasitic Diseases, and 3Viral and Rickettsial Diseases, National Center for Infectious Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia; and 4Texas Department of State Health Services, Austin

Background.In June 1996, an outbreak of chronic diarrhea was reported to the Texas Department of Health (Austin).

Methods.We initiated active case finding, performed 2 case‐control studies, and conducted an extensive laboratory and environmental investigation.

Results.We identified 114 persons with diarrhea that lasted 4 weeks. Symptoms among 102 patients who were studied included urgency (87%), fatigue (86%), fecal incontinence (74%), and weight loss (73%); the median maximum 24‐h stool frequency was 15 stools. Diarrhea persisted for >6 months in 87% and for >1 year in 70% of patients who were observed. Fifty‐one (89%) of 57 ill persons had eaten at a particular restaurant within 4 weeks before onset, compared with 8 (14%) of 59 matched control subjects (matched odds ratio [OR], undefined; 95% confidence interval [CI], 11.2‐∞). At the restaurant, patients were more likely than their unaffected dining companions to have drunk tap water (OR, 2.8; 95% CI, 1.0–9.9) and to have eaten several specific food items, and they were less likely to have drunk iced tea made from boiled water and store‐bought ice (OR, 0.3; 95% CI, 0.05–1.0). A multivariable model that included consumption of tap water and salad bar tomatoes best fit the data. The restaurant had multiple sanitary and plumbing deficiencies. Extensive laboratory and environmental testing for bacterial, parasitic, mycotic, and viral agents did not identify an etiologic agent.

Conclusions.The clinical, laboratory, and epidemiologic findings are consistent with those of previous outbreaks of Brainerd diarrhea. To our knowledge, this is the largest reported outbreak of Brainerd diarrhea associated with a restaurant.

Received 1 November 2005; accepted 12 January 2006; electronically published 26 May 2006.

Reprints or correspondence: Dr. Eric Mintz, Foodborne and Diarrheal Diseases Branch, Mailstop A‐38, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1600 Clifton Rd., Atlanta, GA 30333 ().

  • Presented in part: 46th Annual Epidemic Intelligence Service Conference, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, 14–18 April 1997; and 35th Annual Meeting, Infectious Diseases Society of America, San Francisco, California, 13–16 September 1997 (abstract 670).

  • A.C.K. and S.K.G. were with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Epidemic Intelligence Service at the time of this investigation.

Back to Top
Close Popup