摘要：An outbreak of gastrointestinal illness occurred amongst attendees of a conference lunch in the Hunterarea, New South Wales, in October 2001. A distinctive symptom reported by many ill persons was thepresence of oily diarrhoea. The Hunter Public Health Unit investigated the outbreak by conducting atelephone interview of the cohort of conference attendees using a standard questionnaire. Twentypersons out of 44 attendees (46%) became ill following the conference. The median incubation periodwas 2.5 hours (range 1–90 hours). The most common symptoms reported were; diarrhoea (80%) — 38 percent of these reported oily diarrhoea; abdominal cramps (50%); nausea (45%); headache (35%) andvomiting (25%). For analyses, a case was defined as a person who developed oily diarrhea, or diarrhoeawithin 48 hours, or had at least two other symptoms of gastroenteritis within 6 hours, of the conferencelunch. Seventeen persons had symptoms that met the case definition. None of the foods or beveragesconsumed were significantly associated with illness, however, all cases had consumed fish and none ofthose who did not eat fish (4 persons) became ill. Moreover, only 'fish' or 'potato chips' could explain asignificant proportion of the illness. Analysis of the oil composition of the fish consumed was consistentwith the known profile of the species marketed as 'escolar'. Among those who consumed fish thefollowing potential risk factors did not have a significant association with the illness: Body Mass Index,age, health status and the amount of fish consumed. We concluded that consumption of fish within themarketing group escolar can cause severe abdominal cramping, nausea and vomiting, in addition toincontinent diarrhoea
