Outbreak of gastroenteritis among medical students, Madhya Pradesh, Central India

Although diarrheal diseases with known etiologies are under regular surveillance by the integrated disease surveillance project in India, only limited food-borne outbreaks were subjected to systematic epidemiological investigation. We examined one incidence of a food-borne outbreak among medical students in Bhopal, India, to identifying the source and mode of transmission, and to implement appropriate preventive measures.

We constituted two teams. We did the line listing, filled the structured questionnaire and collected the biological samples. We did in-depth interviews of the case patients. We interviewed food handlers in mess. We randomly collected food and water samples.

The study results identified 30 hosteller case patients for a total of 239 students (overall attack rate [AR]: 12.6%). In female students, the AR was 18.1% and in the male students it was 6.7%. The AR was highest in female hostel no. One compared to other female and male hostel (19.8% vs. 14.3%, 6.7%). We identified four different risk factors for the illness.

As AR s are high compared to the general population. As the AR was high among the girls, the probable source of infection resides in the female hostel.