Salmonella Investigation

Student Name

Institutional Affiliation

Course Name and ID

Tutor

Date of Submission

Salmonella Investigation

Introduction

Finn Corporation has a pending investigation that needs to be attended to an outbreak on salmonella. A nurse who took notice of several employees who were sick. The nurse had a notion that there might be an outbreak of salmonella in the corporation. She, therefore, went ahead to question personnel at the facility. She then proceeded to take specimens from the employees and personnel found in the organization and sent the results to the lab and is now awaiting results. As the epidemiologist in the facility, I am tasked with the duty to investigate the outbreak and find out if it exists and if, by any chance, it exists to determine the source of the epidemic.

The first step in the investigation is to conduct a review of the specimens taken by the nurse from the staff to check whether the outbreak exists and find out the need to recommend for further investigation. The second stage will be researching salmonella and get a better further understanding of it. After the experience, it would be valuable to identify the percentage of employees who possess different symptoms. The fourth step in the study will be a fourth of the symptoms’ source by checking the sick employees’ characteristics and the unhealthy patterns in the institution. Finally, I would further my hypothesis by coming up with a retrospective study. Ultimately, through the investigation, prevention mechanisms will be determined for the issue at hand.

Establishing the Salmonella Outbreak

The nurse provided specimens for analysis and investigation. I took a look into the samples provided by the nurse and specimen acquired. There is proof that people who take food from the cafeteria and those who are ill have the same symptoms from the research. Therefore, I believe that further investigation is needed. I also have a belief that there exists an outbreak in the organization. My thoughts on the fact that many people who visit the cafeteria become ill. However, two personnel who visited the cafeteria bit did not become sick but were both females. Unfortunately, much detail is not given on the two consumed or did not eat on the visit, thus bringing the heat odd that may be sick to below.

Verification of Diagnosis

There is a lot of need for understanding salmonella to be able to analyze the disease quickly. According to (Yoon et al., 2017), salmonella is a commonly found bacterium in food. Most people acquire the bacteria from their own homes due to poor handling of foods. This bacterium is commonly found in raw foods such as meat, fruits, eggs, vegetables, and processed foods. Salmonella can also be gotten by one, not washing hands or being in contact with pets that are carriers to the illness. In my research in salmonella symptoms, there was a match with the results recorded by the nurse during her investigation. The symptoms included cramps in the stomach, diarrhea, cold and chills, fever, headache, throwing and stomach upset. Un most cases, the symptoms of such infections start to come up on the 6^th day and go for half a week or a full week of seven days.

Salmonella’s main symptoms are evident in the employees of Finn Corporation. Several employees have abdominal pain, fever, nausea, abdominal cramps, chills, diarrhea, and blood in the stool and vomiting. The only proper explanation for such conditions would be that the cafeteria’s food was not correctly handled or prepared. It is crucial for those handing the food to ensure it is properly washed and cooked.

Working Case Definition

On the furthering, if this investigation, the percentage of sick personnel and employees regarding the specific symptoms experienced. Therefore, I calculated the percentage of individuals to a particular symptom witnessed by an individual, with the overall number of sick employees. There was only a single employee from a total of 12 who had an experience of blood in the stool, giving a percentage of (Bs)=8.3%. Eight employees out of the total 12 had an experience of fever bringing in a percentage of (F)= 67%. The employee with the condition of chills, fever and some signs of diarrhea shared the same percentage. Ill employees who had experiences of nausea accounted for only three out of the total of twelve this a percentage of 25%, and the employees who had an experience of vomiting also shared the same percentage. The ill with abdominal cramps were twelve out of the twelve employees, thus 50%.

Descriptive Epidemiology

For a good understanding 0f the reason behind the outbreak to specific individuals

it is crucial for the identification of the risk factors. Descriptive epidemiology ehlp0s in this section as it allows the organization of data for an easy understanding of geographical disease occurrence for a certain period. For this process, the percentage of the employees was determined according to gender. The organization has nine out of twenty males giving a percentage of 45%. On the other hand, female employees in total were eleven out of twenty with a percentage of 55%. The average of employees who were sick from the organization is 41. Employees who ate at the cafeteria were eleven; therefore, the percentage of people who fell ill from eating int the cafe was 55%. Only two employees did not fall sick but had eaten in the restaurant, thus 10%. From the calculation of the percentages, I proceeded to develop a graph by plotting the information from the nurse’s interview. The curve was generated depending on the day by which each patient became sick. The chart below depicts the epidemic curve of intervals of one day.

Retrospective Cohort Study

A hypothesis is developed from the study that specific food types in the cafeteria cause the employees to be ill. After creating the view, evaluation often hypothesis is critical by us of the retrospective cohort study. The study is efficient for a small study population like fir this case of twenty employees. Having in mind that the location is known and the types of foods served are also known, there is a known possibility of seeing the kind of food.

From a risk ratio analysis of the foods served in the cafeteria, baked chicken has a ratio of 4.14, as shown in the table below. Spinach had a risk ratio of 1,28; mashed potatoes had a risk ratio of 1.60. The egg salad and jello recorded a risk ratio of 0.82. The bread roll was recorder at 0.60. Brown bread served by the employees was at 0.78. Milk was at 0.75 while coffee with Yeats had a ratio of 0.27. Water was recorded at 0.67 while cake ahead a reiterate of 0.38. Vanilla ice cream served in the cafeteria as at risk of 0.58 while the chocolate was at 1.00/ Finally, fruit salad had a total ratio of 1.14. Considering the analysis conducted in the foods, chicken seems to be the most likely cause of the outbreak with the highest ratio. Therefore, the chicken could have been handling inadequately or cooked in a bad state, making the employees get salmonella.

Risk ratio of the Foods

Food in Cafeteria	Ate Food				Did Not Eat Food
	III	Well	Total People	Attack Rate	III	Well	Total People	Attack Rate	Risk ratio
Baked Chicken	10	1	11	0.91	2	7	9	0.22	4.09
Spinach	9	5	14	0.64	3	3	6	0.50	1.29
Mashed Potatoes	8	3	11	0.73	4	5	9	0.44	1.64
Egg salad	1	1	2	0.50	11	7	18	0.61	0.82
Jello	1	1	2	0.50	11	7	18	0.61	0.82
Rolls	7	7	14	0.50	5	1	6	0.83	0.60
Brown Bread	3	3	6	0.50	9	5	14	0.64	0.78
Milk	4	4	8	0.50	8	4	12	0.67	0.75
Coffee	3	8	11	0.27	9	0	9	1.00	0.27
Water	6	6	12	0.50	6	2	8	0.75	0.67
Cake	2	5	7	0.29	10	3	13	0.77	0.37
Vanilla Icecream	5	6	11	0.45	7	2	9	0.78	0.58
Chocolate ice cream	3	2	5	0.60	9	6	15	0.60	1.00
Fruit salad	7	4	11	0.64	5	4	9	0.56	1.15

Application of Safety principles to Prevent Salmonella outbreaks in the cafeteria

From the recent findings, as the organization’s epidemiologist, I would carry out health checks often to ensure that food is being treated and carried on fairly and safely. I would also check to ensure that the kitchen is kept clean and sanitized. I would inform the chef to do constant monitoring of foods and ensure that all the foods served to the customer are correctly cooked. Foods that have a likelihood of contamination should be discarded from the kitchen, and the utensils used to handle them being sterilized. It is also vital for the kitchen and cafeteria hygiene to be maintained.

Conclusion

In conclusion, this case at the Finn Corporation was an exciting investigation. In trying to improve the research past the verifying salmonella stage, there was a collection of specimens from the organization to understand the cause and prevention mechanism for the bacteria deeply. Through the investigation, I was also able to identify why most employees are getting ill and provide recommendations for there safe wellbeing. It is, therefore, important for Finn corporation to maintain acceptable hygiene standards and sanitary management. This would ensure a big deal of preventing such occurrences in the future.

References

Yoon, S. J., Jun, S., Paik, H., Jung, G., Shin, Y., & Kang, S. (2017). U.S. Patent No. 9,540,616. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.