International outbreak of salmonellosis in a hotel in Lloret de Mar, Spain, August 2007

Abstract

On 21 August 2007, a hospital in Barcelona, Spain, informed local health authorities in Girona of the occurrence of an outbreak of gastrointestinal illness among three families who had eaten lunch at a hotel in Lloret de Mar on 14 August 2007. Only one of these three families was staying at the hotel. The lunch on 14 August at the hotel was the only meal they had shared. Samples for stool culture were collected from six of the 12 affected individuals in this outbreak and all tested positive for Salmonella spp.

Local epidemiologists carried out a preliminary investigation by interviewing the 12 cases notified by the hospital in Barcelona on 21 August. Information about clients having stayed at the hotel around 14 August was obtained from the hotel manager and from the health centre that usually provides medical assistance to clients of the hotel.

Affected tourists from 12 countries were detected. Most of these guests had returned to their countries by the time of the investigation. Most of the cases came from France; therefore on 26 August, the French Institut de Veille Sanitaire (InVS) and the four Spanish autonomous regions implicated were contacted to initiate an investigation coordinated by the Centro Nacional de Epidemiología in Spain. On 27 August, a European alert was sent through the Early Warning and Response System (EWRS). On 29 August, after a teleconference organised by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), all involved countries were included in the international investigation of this outbreak. The aim of the investigation was to describe the extent of the outbreak and determine the vehicle/source of infection in order to reduce risks of future outbreaks.