Vibrio parahaemolyticus is a halophilic marine bacterium first isolated from Shirasu, semi-dried juvenile sardine, implicated in an outbreak.
The first food poisoning case due to Vibrio parahaemolyticus reported outside Japan was from the East Coast of the United States in 1971.
Vibrio parahaemolyticus gastroenteritis is generally self limiting with diarrhea, abdominal cramps, nausea, vomiting, fever and chills being common signs and symptoms of this disease.
Vibrio parahaemolyticus is typically present in seafoods and occurs only sporadically on other foods that have been exposed to salt, such as salt-preserved vegetables.
In North America and Europe most outbreaks of Vibrio parahaemolyticus-induced gastroenteritis have been due to the consumption of raw mollusks (oysters and clams) or cooked crustaceans (shrimp, crab and boosters).
The increase of the outbreaks incidence may be attributed to many factors such as warmer water temperatures or an increase in raw shellfish consumption. Vibrio parahaemolyticus can be isolated from coastal waters when the water temperature is 15 °C or above. The organism can only be detected in sediment with the temperature is below 15 °C.
Vibrio parahaemolyticus
