On March 17, 2003 the Kelantan Health Department was notihed about a possible typhoid outbreak following a wedding party. An investigation was carried out to identiy the source and recommend control measures. Active case detection, yield investigation and case»control study were conducted. Cases were symptomatic attendees with a stool or blood culture positive for Salmonella
typhii. Each control had a negative culture and denied symptoms. Of the more than 1 OOO guests, 477 experienced fever; 152 met the case definition. The party hostess was found to be an Salmonelb typhii carrier. Syrup prepared with untreated well water was identified as the most likely source for this outbreak, with an odds ratio 14.0 (95% C1: 2.9, 104.1). This was a common source
outbreak of typhoid. We recommend that all food handlers at large parties be screened for typhoid and other foodborne diseases and samples of higherisk foods should be kept for few days after each event in case they are needed for testing.