Outbreak of beriberi among illegal mainland Chinese immigrants at a detention center in Taiwan
Public Health Rep. 2003 Jan-Feb;118(1):59-64.
doi: 10.1093/phr/118.1.59.
Authors
Kow-Tong Chen 1, Shiing-Jer Twu, Shu-Ti Chiou, Wen-Harn Pan, Hong-Jen Chang, Mary K Serdula
Affiliation
●1Field Epidemiology Training Program, Center for Disease Control, Department of Health, Taiwan, Republic of China.
●
PMID:
12604765
●
PMCID:
PMC1497506
●
DOI:
10.1093/phr/118.1.59
Abstract
Objective:
The authors describe an outbreak of beriberi in a detention center in Taiwan and examine risk factors for illness.
Methods:
A survey was conducted among a sample of 176 randomly selected detainees. A menu-assisted dietary recall method was used to obtain diet information from nine hospitalized detainees. A probable case patient was defined as an individual who had at least two of the following characteristics: leg edema, weakness of the extremities, poor appetite, and dyspnea. Possible case patients were those who had only one of these characteristics.
Results:
Of the 176 survey respondents, 19% were classified as probable case patients and 40% as possible case patients. The mortality rate based on probable cases was 1.1%. Body Mass Index (BMI) was negatively associated with illness (p < 0.0001), and length of stay in the detention center was independently positively associated with illness (p < 0.05). The average intake of dietary thiamine among the nine hospitalized case patients who completed three-day dietary recall surveys was 0.49 +/- 0.1 mg/day. After thiamine administration, all symptoms and signs of beriberi resolved.
Conclusion:
This outbreak is a reminder of the importance of ensuring adequate diets for poor, institutionalized, or refugee populations who are unable to supplement their diets.
MeSH terms
●
Beriberi / drug therapy
●
Beriberi / ethnology*
●
Beriberi / physiopathology
●
Body Mass Index
●
China / ethnology
●
Diet*
●
Disease Outbreaks
●
Health Surveys
●
Hospitalization
●
Humans
●
Institutionalization*
●
Mental Recall
●
Risk Factors
●
Taiwan / epidemiology
●
Thiamine / administration & dosage
●
Transients and Migrants / statistics & numerical data*
Substances
●
Thiamine