Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Members of Taiwanese tour group contract dysentery in Cambodia

By Jenny W. Hsu

Taipei, Sept. 14 (CNA) - A group of workers from a Taiwanese insurance company contracted dysentery during a recent company trip to Cambodia, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said Tuesday.

The CDC confirmed that at least four of the 58 people in the tour group who fell ill during the five-day trip had contracted shigellosis, or bacillary dysentery, an inflammatory intestinal disorder that results in severe diarrhea, fever and abdominal pain.

The CDC said it has contacted the tour agency that organized the trip, as part of efforts to prevent further transmission of the disease.

The group of 140 people was on a tour in Cambodia Sept 3-7, and seven of them developed symptoms of fever and diarrhea at the airport on the return leg of the trip, said CDC Deputy Director-General Chou Jih-haw.

The CDC immediately located the other members of the group and found that 51 others had also displayed similar symptoms during the trip.

Preliminary investigations found that the problem may have been caused by the consumption of vegetables, juice, seafood and other uncooked items, the CDC said. Ice cubes could have been another source of the bacteria, it added.

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