Typhoid, paratyphoid and amoebic dysentery most common among reported cases

Asia Al Raeesi of Dubai Municipality revealed that 45 per cent of the hospitals in Dubai reported food-borne diseases and that typhoid, paratyphoid and amoebic dysentery were the most common among all the reported cases.

Al Raeesi was speaking during the session titled ‘Food-borne Illnesses: Investigation and Disease Surveillance’, in Al Mutaqa Hall. She made the revelation during her presentation, which focused on the structure of the food-borne disease (FBD) outbreak inspection team at Dubai Municipality, and its roles and responsibilities.

Al Raeesi described how the team functioned in the event of an FBD outbreak, what responsibilities it took, the function of the environmental health team and the epidemiological team, and the function of the food lab and the clinical lab.

In her presentation, Al Raeesi described a recent outbreak, during which Dubai Municipality received three complaints, and took action within 24 hours.

As part of the action, Dubai Municipality interviewed the patients, contacted the hospital for verifying facts and interviewed all the attendees of the associated event.

Dubai Municipality conducted a study, and chocolate mousse served at a food business in the city, came under suspicion.

Dubai Municipality investigated the food business and discovered that it had used raw shell eggs and that there had been time and temperature abuse.

Subsequent to that, Dubai Municipality banned the business from serving the dish until it rectified the situation.

As a result of the episode, Dubai Municipality took measures to provide advice to all businesses to use pasteurised eggs in undercooked dishes.