Fifteen people sought treatment at area hospitals for symptoms of food poisoning early Sunday morning, a few hours after they told doctors they had attended the upscale annual food festival Taste of Cayman on Saturday, a leading local medical official said.
Dr. Kiran Kumar, the director of public health in the Cayman Islands, said patients began arriving at the two hospitals in downtown George Town at 2am Sunday while showing signs of food poisoning, including abdominal cramps, vomiting and diarrhoea.
Dr. Kumar said 14 patients were treated and released Sunday from the Cayman Islands Hospital in Grand Cayman. He said one patient with similar symptoms sought treatment at Chrissie Tomlinson Memorial Hospital.
Dr. Kumar said the cause of the reported illnesses appeared to be food contaminated with the bacteria staphylococcus. It was not immediately clear which food or foods had been contaminated, he said.
“Some (patients) were able to leave almost immediately, some were kept for a short while and treated ... a couple of hours depending on each case,” he said. “They are all safe and they have all gone home.”
Dr. Kumar said Monday morning that health officials have been monitoring the hospitals for additional cases. He said he emailed area doctors and requested they contact health department officials if they have encountered and treated patients experiencing food poisoning symptoms.
Dr. Kumar said he did not have complete information regarding any reports of additional cases by press time Monday. He said follow-up interviews are to be conducted with patients.
Saturday evening, more than 5,000 people attended the 24th annual Taste of Cayman food festival at Camana Bay, said Jane van der Bol, executive director of the Cayman Islands Tourism Association. The outdoor gathering, which saw record attendance this year, enables people to sample dishes and drinks from the more than 40 participating restaurants and beverage providers.
“Pinpointing whose food was the cause will be very difficult,” Dr. Kumar said. “These people were sampling a lot of different foods.
“We may get an idea when people say things about commonly eaten foods,” he said.
Dr. Kumar said some of the patients seeking treatment told hospital staff that they knew of other family members and friends who also weren’t feeling well, but chose not to go to the hospital.
“We heard of about 10 more,” he said.
Food poisoning symptoms, including nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea, can start just hours after eating contaminated food. Most often, food poisoning is mild and resolves without treatment. But some cases are severe, requiring hospitalisation.
Ms van der Bol said CITA is interested in working with Cayman health officials in the future to ensure all Taste of Cayman vendors utilise appropriate food preparation and management techniques.
“While the CITA hosted our 24th year of the biggest food and wine festival in Cayman, this is an unfortunate incident that may have arisen from attending our event,” Ms van der Bol said. “This is certainly something that we are going to follow through with the Department of Environmental Health because we would never want anything like this to happen to anybody at any time.”
Public health officials are in the process of collecting information regarding the incident and anyone who experienced similar symptoms but did not go to the hospital is urged to contact health officials at 244-2561 or 244-2621.