Three to 5 days after eating Thanksgiving dinner at a restaurant,112 people deve

Question

Three to 5 days after eating Thanksgiving dinner at a restaurant,112 people developed fever and gastroenteritis. All the foodhad been consumed except for five “doggie” bags. Bacterial analysis of the mixed contents of the bags (containingroast turkey, giblet gravy, and mashed potatoes) showed the samebacterium that was isolated from the patients. The gravy hadbeen prepared from giblets of 43 turkey that had been refrigeratedfor three days prior to preparation. The uncooked gibletswere ground in a blender and added to a thickened hot stockmixture. The gravy was not reboiled and was stored at roomtemperature throughout Thanksgiving Day. What was the sourceof illness? What was the most likely etiologic agent? Was this an infection or an intoxication?

Explanation / Answer

If we see the results of eating the Thanksgiving dinner ittook 3-5 days for the symptoms to appear.
The reason may be an already existing infection of the giblets ORdue to 3 days of refrigeration the giblets may have started tospoil. To find out whether the giblets were carrying the infection,wecan see the time it took for the symptoms to appear.It was 3-5days.So we can safely assume that the bacteria were not in thegiblets prior to refrigeration.As soon as the food started to spoilthese bacteria attacked the food,started to divide and producetoxins.When reboiling was not done and the gravy was kept at roomtemperature,the bacteria multiplied rapidly producing toxins. So these toxins were the cause of the ill effects of theThanksgiving dinner. These toxins were caused by the bacterium-Salmonellatyphimurium. This bacterium causes the typhoid fever and gastroenteritis inaffected persons.These symptoms were caused by the toxins producedby Salmonella typhimurium. So the incident was an intoxication - Result of toxinsproduced. It was not an infection of the giblets because IF the gibletshad been infected before refrigeration the symptoms would beimmediate and severe due to excessive amounts oftoxins. But as we see the effects only after 3-5 days theconcentration of bacteria must have been low compared to the amountof gravy. So the incident was an intoxication - Result of toxinsproduced. It was not an infection of the giblets because IF the gibletshad been infected before refrigeration the symptoms would beimmediate and severe due to excessive amounts oftoxins. But as we see the effects only after 3-5 days theconcentration of bacteria must have been low compared to the amountof gravy.

Related Questions

Navigate

• Browse (All)
• Browse T
• Subjects

---

---

Integrity-first tutoring: explanations and feedback only — we do not complete graded work. Learn more.