An outbreak of histamine poisoning after ingestion of the ground saury paste in eight patients taking isoniazid in tuberculous ward.

Objective: To determine the cause of outbreak mimicking food poisoning, we studied the toxic polyamine contents of the food and analyzed the clinical characteristics of the affected eight patients.

Patients And Methods: Eight cases of histamine poisoning which occurred in tuberculous patients after dinner in our hospital were analyzed by clinical and biochemical methods. We examined the contents of four representative toxic polyamines, histamine, putrescine, cadaverine and tyramine, of the each food of the dinner and their serum concentrations of the monoamine oxidase (MAO), one of histaminases, using radioimmunoassay.