Isolation of Bacillus cereus in school restaurants in Colombia

Introduction: Bacillus cereus is recognized as a pathogen that causes food poisoning. It is a facultative aerobic metabolism bacterium capable of forming spores, which allows it to survive pasteurization and heating even by the gamma irradiation used to reduce pathogens in food. Objective: To study the presence of Bacillus cereus and its diarrheal toxin in rice and ready-to-eat cereals, flours, and starches in school restaurants in Colombia. Materials and methods: We conducted a descriptive cross-sectional study of ready-to-eat foods distributed in school restaurants in the departments with the most and the least notification of foodborne diseases to the surveillance system. Results: A total of 479 samples were collected from eight departments, 74 municipalities, and 363 school restaurants, 63% of which were rice samples and 37%, starchy food samples; 9% of them tested positive for Bacillus cereus. In 91% of the samples that tested positive, the bacterium was isolated with the presence of the diarrheal toxin. Conclusions: In all the departments with B. cereus in the samples, the factors directly related to food-borne diseases were the handling of raw materials and the poor thermal treatment of food. Strengthening surveillance by stimulating research and reporting on outbreaks of foodborne diseases is important to improve the quality of information, to develop communication, prevention and intersectional coordination and manipulation measures, as well as to take the necessary actions to guarantee the safety of food and to eliminate the risk factors that may contribute to this problem.

[Comparison of two methodologies used for determining metabolic syndrome in adult population]. / Comparación de dos metodologías utilizadas para la determinación del síndrome metabólico en población adulta.

INTRODUCTION: Metabolic syndrome is characterized by the simultaneous or sequential appearance of various metabolic and inflammatory changes at molecular, cellular or hemodynamic level associated with the presence of insulin resistance and dominant visceral adiposity. Different expert groups, including the International Diabetes Federation and the National Cholesterol Education Program, have tried to develop criteria for its diagnosis. OBJECTIVE: To establish diagnostic criteria concordance levels for metabolic syndrome. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 357 people were part of the study. We performed a descriptive analysis of qualitative variables, and laboratory and anthropometric measurement results to determine the prevalence of metabolic syndrome according to the International Diabetes Federation and National Cholesterol Education Program - ATP III definitions. We used kappa concordance and logistic regression for the comparison of methodologies. RESULTS: The prevalence of metabolic syndrome was 19.9% according to the International Diabetes Federation, and 10.4% using the National Cholesterol Education Program - ATP III. The estimate of agreement between the two diagnostic criteria of the International Diabetes Federation and the National Cholesterol Education Program - ATP III was fair (low) (κ=0.3997, CI 95% 0.28-0.52). CONCLUSIONS: In the working population who participated in this study, the obtained prevalence of metabolic syndrome occurred at a higher rate using the International Diabetes Federation definition, being higher in men than in women. The use of diagnostic criteria for metabolic syndrome must take into account the study population as well as sex and age.