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 Control measures are often fairly standard and, in the case of foodborne illness, are targeted at removing the source and preventing secondary transmission. Control measures for type A outbreaks like the above example are minimal and involved making sure the contaminated food was destroyed. Those for type B outbreaks may be more complex. In the hepatitis case, this involved making sure that household contacts received appropriate prophylaxis and
    removing cases and exposed persons who were foodhandlers themselves from work or putting them in less sensitive positions until they no longer posed a threat for transmitting the hepatitis A virus. In most cases evaluation of the effectiveness of control measures merely involves keeping an eye open for additional complaints about the same establishment. In other instances, surveillance activities may need to be increased or modified to identify potential problem areas. In the case of the above hepatitis outbreak, health care providers were notified and asked to consider hepatitis A as a possible diagnosis for persons with appropriate clinical presentations.
    While outbreak investigations are often too late to be of benefit to those most directly involved, lessons learned from these investigations can be used to prevent future problems. If nothing else, the sequence of events leading up to the problem can be used as examples of carelessness. However, we often find additional ways microbes have been able to exploit our habits and practices, causing disease in human populations.

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