BACKGROUND: The transmission of traveler's @entity294 is primarily foodborne. OBJECTIVE: To examine the level of microbial contamination of tabletop sauces found in Mexican-style restaurants. DESIGN: Cross-sectional study of Mexican sauces. SETTING: Mexican restaurants in @entity33616 , Mexico, and Houston, Texas, during the summer of 1998. MEASUREMENTS: 71 sauces from @entity33616 and 25 sauces from Houston were examined. The number of sauces contaminated with @entity526 , the median number of @entity526 colonies per gram of sauce, and enteropathogens were identified. RESULTS: 47 of 71 sauces from @entity33616 were contaminated with @entity526 versus 10 of 25 sauces from Houston (P = 0.03); the median number of @entity526 colonies per gram of sauce was 1000 in the @entity33616 sauces versus 0.0 in the Houston sauces (P = 0.007). Among sauces from @entity33616 tested for diarrheogenic @entity526 , 4 of 43 sauces contained enterotoxigenic @entity526 and 14 of 32 contained enteroaggregative @entity526 . CONCLUSIONS: Contamination with @entity526 was common in samples of Mexican tabletop sauces from @entity33616 restaurants. These sauces commonly contained enteric pathogens.

Enteric pathogens in Mexican sauces of popular restaurants in XXXX , Mexico, and Houston, Texas.

@entity294 :: ('MESH:D003967', 'Disease') :: ['diarrhea'] @entity33616 :: ('MESH:C537970', 'Disease') :: ['Guadalajara'] @entity526 :: ('562', 'Species') :: ['Escherichia coli', 'E. coli']
@entity33616 :: (MESH:C537970,Disease) :: ['Guadalajara']
