Food Poisoning in a Senior High School in Kumasi an Unmatched Case Control Study

Food poisoning, is when a person or a group of persons consume food that may be contaminated with microbes, their toxins, or chemicals. Most cases are accidental and may arise from contamination of ingredients, overdose of additives, or contamination of utensils. Globally, 600 million cases and 420,000 deaths are reported annually. In Ghana, 1914 cases were reported between 2013 and 2021, with 36 deaths. We investigated a case of food poisoning among students of a Girls SHS in the Kumasi Metropolis to estimate the burden, identify the cause and implement control measures. An unmatched case-control study (119 cases, 347 controls) was conducted after descriptive epidemiology, to test for association between the suspected exposure and the outcome. Medical records were reviewed. Active case search was conducted in classes. Our outbreak Case Definition was ‘Any person who developed diarrhoea and or abdominal pains from March 5-8, 2022 within the school’. Confidentiality was ensured by excluding the name of the school. A total of 119 boarders, out of 982 (attack rate 12.1%) were affected, but 18 hospitalised. The mean age was 17.4 (range 15-20, SD±0.92). Onset of index case was March 5, 2022. Symptoms included abdominal pains (84/119), diarrhoea (95/119) without mortality. A total 109 (91.6%) cases ate rice and stew, 6 (5%) ate tea and bread, 7 (5.8%) ate banku and groundnut soup, 4 (3.3%) ate rice balls and 1 (0.8%) ate porridge prior to incident. Odds ratio was 9.9 for consumption of rice and-stew. A point source outbreak was concluded. The odds ratio indicated very strong association between consumption of the rice-and-stew and the outbreak. We recommended screening for food-vendors and education on food hygiene.