Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine the aetiology, food vehicles, locations and peak seasons of foodborne outbreaks in Barbados, assess the quality of epidemiological investigations and report on laboratory proficiency.
Methods: We examined 24 foodborne outbreaks from a systematic review of published reports between 1998-2009 and public health laboratory data. Keyword searches included “foodborne,” “outbreaks”, “Barbados” and the inclusion criteria were: 1. Two or more cases of a similar foodborne disease occurring as a result of ingestion of a common food. 2. Confirmation by epidemiological and/or microbiological (laboratory) evidence. 3. Sufficient epidemiological evidence to support the occurrence of a FBDO in the absence of identification of a foodborne pathogen. 4. FBDO occurred between 1998-2009.
Results: There were 215 cases of illness and one hospitalization and 37.5% of outbreaks were associated with hotels/resorts; hotel-related outbreaks occurred mostly during June-September and non-hotel outbreaks, mostly in February. Salmonella Enteritidis phage type 8 (PT 8) was most commonly implicated, eggs and poultry were the primary vehicles. Laboratory surveillance revealed that there were 2331 cases of human gastroenteritis and Salmonella spp. (67.6%), S. aureus (14.9%) and Campylobacter spp. (11.8%) were most implicated. Three outbreak reports were assessed and received low scores when evaluated by five major criteria from the World Health Organization.
Significance: Reports indicated deficiencies in outbreak investigations and high levels of food contamination with indicator organisms suggesting that improvements in food hygiene and production practices were required.