Foodborne Illness Outbreaks in Gyeonggi Province, Korea, Following Seafood Consumption Potentially Caused by Kudoa septempunctata between 2015 and 2016

Investigations into foodborne illness, potentially caused by , has been ongoing in Korea since 2015. However, epidemiological analysis reporting and positive detection in feces in Korea has been limited. The aim of this study was to provide epidemiologic data analysis of possible food poisoning caused by in Korea. This study reviewed 16 outbreak investigation reports, including suspected cases between 2015 and 2016 in Gyeonggi province, Korea. Suspected foodborne illness outbreak was defined as "evidence of in at least one sample." The time and place of outbreak, patient symptoms and (+) detection rate in feces was analyzed. foodborne illness outbreaks occurred in most patients in August (22.6%) and in most outbreaks in April (25%). The attack rate was 53.9% and the average attack rate in patients who had consumed olive flounder was 64.7%. The average incubation period was 4.3 hours per outbreak. Diarrhea was the most common symptom which was reported by 91.5% patients. The (+) detection rate in feces was 69.2% of cases. Monthly distribution of foodborne illness was different from previous studies. The (+) detection rate in feces decreased rapidly between 25.5 and 28.5 hours of the time interval from food intake to epidemiologic survey. To identify effective period of time of investigation, we believe additional study with extended number of cases is necessary.