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Chronology of food poisoning epidemic in Japan
July 25, 1996
Web posted at: 10:15 a.m. EDT (1415 GMT)JAPAN (CNN) -- The following is a chronology of the food poisoning epidemic caused by colon bacteria that has afflicted more than 8,000 people and killed eight in Japan.
May 28 - Food poisoning reported in three primary (elementary) schools and one kindergarten in Kuji town in western Japan's Okayama Prefecture.
May 31 - Food poisoning traced to the O-157 colon bacteria which is found in some 200 patients in Kuji. School lunches are suspected as a source of the tainted food.
June 1 - Seven-year-old girl in Kuji dies from O-157 poisoning.
June 5 - Another seven-year-old girl dies in Kuji. School lunches terminated. Total patients in Okayama Prefecture stand at 843.
June 8 - Eight-year-old boy dies in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture, central Japan.
June 14 - Health Ministry orders local governments to tighten controls on school lunches.
June 21 - Food poisoning epidemic spreads to Tokyo as well as Gifu and Nagano prefectures in central Japan.
July 1 - Health Ministry's O-157 research team meets for first time.
July 7 - An 84-year-old woman dies in Kanagawa Prefecture, south of Tokyo, becoming the fourth victim of the O-157 bacillus.
July 9 - Education Ministry says 1,500 schoolchildren across nation stricken with O-157 poisoning.
July 11 - A dozen children in Sakai, near Osaka, taken to hospitals in new food poisoning cases.
July 12 - Another dozen children taken to Sakai hospitals.
July 13 - Sakai city sets up emergency council on food poisoning countermeasures.
July 14 - Patients in Sakai top 2,500, mostly schoolchildren. O-157 germ found in patients. School lunches prepared by city-run kitchens are the primary suspect.
July 15 - Number of patients reaches 3,000 in Sakai.
July 16 - Sakai patients rise to 4,000. Those infected include cooks and teachers at schools. City starts probe of city-run kitchens catering to schools.
July 17 - Number of Sakai patients now 5,000. A seven-year- old girl reported in critical condition and patients include 32 people not associated with schools in growing secondary infections.
July 18 - Central and prefectural governments decide to set up Sakai liaison council to coordinate countermeasures.
July 19 - Two schoolgirls, aged seven and 12, reported in comas.
July 20 - Sakai patients top 6,000.
July 21 - Fifth victim dies, a 56-year-old man in Kyoto. Sakai liaison council holds first meeting. Patients in serious condition increase to 80.
July 23 - Two more victims die, an 85-year-old woman in Osaka and a 10-year-old girl in Sakai, bringing to seven those who have died in the outbreak. Total number of patients across the country now more than 8,000.
July 24 - Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto announces crash program to contain the epidemic. He says the problem has become a "national issue" and indicates he may impose drastic measures on the food industry. Experts fail to find traces of the O-157 bacteria in any of the 1,300 food samples taken from Sakai school lunches.
July 25 - For the first time, there is slight decrease in number of patients in serious condition in Sakai. But total number of patients across Japan stands at 8,495, according to the Health Ministry. Doctors attribute an eighth death to the bacteria -- a 13-year-old girl who died in May.
Reuters contributed to this report.
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