Food Poisoning in Cameroon: Case of Bafoussam Municipality, West Region

This study was to estimate the rate of food poisoning in the Bafoussam municipality. The objective
was to investigate the prevalence of food poisoning among the population usinghospital record books
for a period of four years (2015-2018). Collection of data was based on extracting patient’s
information from the daily records books of hospitals from 2015 to 2018. Findings show that 346 food
poisoning cases were recorded with a range of 22 to 29%; the most affected patients were aged from
41 to 50 years old (23%); Famla was the most affected area (17%); beans were the most frequent
source of contamination (21%); vomiting, nausea, diarrhea, abdominal pain, convulsion, skin irritation
and stomach pain were the most symptoms observed (27, 24, 21 and 19% respectively). Education
on good hygienic and agricultural practices becomes necessary for the population as farmers should
be trained on proper handling, storage and use of pesticides and food preservation.