Bacillus cereus Food Poisoning

Bacillus cereusis a recent addition to the growing list of organisms known to cause food-borne disease. In the 1950s, Hauge1published the first description of a food-borneB cereusoutbreak based on his investigation of several outbreaks in Norway. Illness in these outbreaks was characterized preponderantly by diarrhea, with an incubation period of from ten to 12 hours. In the early 1970s, a second clinical syndrome associated withB cereuswas identified in which vomiting was the primary symptom and in which the incubation period ranged from one to six hours.2Unlike outbreaks of diarrhealB cereusfood-borne disease, which have been associated with a variety of foods, rice has been implicated as the vehicle in almost all reported outbreaks of the emetic syndrome. These two different clinical syndromes seem to be associated with two different toxins produced by the bacteria: one toxin is heat labile—causes fluid