Studies on an Outbreak of Histamine Poisoning Caused by Fresh Fish in Kagawa Prefecture

I. General View of the Outbreak and Histamine-Producing Ability of the Isolated Bacteria

Abstract

Histamine poisoning is the most frequent of allergic food poisoning.Some reports have been made recently on cases of food poisoning due to putrefaction caused by histamine-producing bacteria. In November, 1958, food poisoning broke out in Kagawa Prefecture. The incriminated food was baked, soy-sauce seasoned fish prepared from a species so called karasu. The case was diagnosed as histamine poisoning, judging from the symptoms manifested by the persons involved and the histamine-producing ability of the isolated bacteria. Some tests and examinations were performed with the following results.
1. The persons involved were 23 and manifested symptoms 30 to 60 minutes after the incriminated food was taken.The principal symptoms consisted of redness of the face, conjunctival congestion, severe headache, and feeling of inebriation.
2. From one gram of the incriminated baked fish, 12mg of histamine were detected.
3. The color-appearing critical concentration of crystal histamine in paper chromatography was 5r/ml as determined by Pauly's color reaction due to diazotization.
4. The histamine-producing organism isolated from the incriminated food was Morganella (Proteus morganii).
5. The histamine-producing ability of the isolated strains in synthetic media containing histidine was 1/2 to 2/3 of the original quantity of histidine.
6. When 0.5cc of bouillon culture of the isolated histamine-producing strains was added to the emulsion of the incriminated fish and incubated at 30°C, histamine was produced in an amount of about 1.2 mg/g after 5 hours and in amounts of 12 to 28 mg/g after 26 hours, a little difference being shown among the strains.