An outbreak of gastrointestinal illness associated with consumption of raw depurated oysters.

Abstract

Oesophageal obdurators are popular in the USA. The obdurator is a long cuffed tube attached to a facemask. The tube is passed blindly into the oesophagus and the cuffis then inflated to isolate the oesophagus and stomach from the airway. In the origmial version the oesophageal obdurator tube is blocked distally and a series of holesat laryngeal level permit air blown down the tube to pass from the tubei-to the larynx. In a later version the oesophageal tube is-not terminally seaed and this allows~for aspirato or pressure relief of gastric contents. A-second orifice in the mask is used for ventilation. Hazards in the use ofthese tubes include trauma to the oesophagus and stomach, the risk ofinducing vomiting and gastric rupture, and, paradoxically, the rare occurence ofunrecogmsed tracheal intubation.