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Japanese city closes schools
in food poisoning outbreak
July 15, 1996
Web posted at: 10:30 p.m. EDT (0230 GMT)OSAKA, Japan (CNN) -- Health officials shut down all 92 of Sakai's public elementary schools Monday for extensive disinfection and investigation in the country's biggest outbreak of food poisoning in 50 years. Nearly 3,000 schoolchildren in the Osaka suburb were stricken with food poisoning, and more than 150 hospitalized.
Doctors believe a potentially fatal strain of E. coli bacteria is to blame for the outbreak, and health officials suspect school lunches may be spreading the bacteria. The organism is commonly contracted from undercooked meat; however water, poultry and dairy products can also carry E. coli.
The government has set up a special task force to handle the mysterious epidemic. Earlier this year, the bacteria surfaced in several other areas in Japan, including Tokyo, killing three children and one elderly woman.
Correspondent May Lee contributed to this report.
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