RASFF – Norovirus (GII) in oysters from France in Italy
The Swedish Institute for Communicable Disease Control (Smittskyddsinstitutet, SMI) warned that the berries may have been responsible for 22 cases of Hepatitis A in Sweden so far.
The usual contagion rate for the same timeframe is about five people in Sweden.
Experts from the institute advised berry lovers to take caution when consuming any berries bought in Sweden that were sold frozen.
“If you cook them for at least one minute then all the contagion will die or disappear,” Margareta Löfdahl, epidemiologist from the Institute, told the TT news agency.
“This cooking advice applies to all kinds of frozen berried from all suppliers, this is the safest option until we find out more.”
The people infected in Sweden were infected with the same type of Hepatitis that 30 people in Denmark were diagnosed with recently, which has since been traced to frozen berries and strawberries in particular.
The SMI is now sending traces of the berries to the Swedish National Food Agency (Livsmedelsverket) for testing.
Hepatitis A is an infection of the liver. It can be prevented by vaccination, and experts at SMI have recommended Swedes remember to maintain good hygiene.
Posted in Eurofins Laboratories, Food Hygiene, Food Illness, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology, Food Poisoning, Food Safety, Food Safety Alert, Food Testing, Food Virus, Foodborne Illness, Hepatitis A, Hygiene, Illness, Microbiology, outbreak, Pathogen, Toxin, Virus
Tagged frozen berries, livsmedelsverket, national food agency, tt news
SIXTY people have fallen ill after eating contaminated oysters.
All oysters produced by Barilla Bay Seafoods have been recalled from the market after health authorities pinpointed the outbreak yesterday. People who ate the oysters were infected by norovirus, a common cause of gastroenteritis.
None was hospitalised over the Easter weekend but some saw doctors and went to the Royal Hobart emergency department. It is the second incidence of contaminated oysters in southern Tasmania in a week, but health authorities say the two cases are a coincidence. They say the contamination is not related to shellfish from Pitt Water, which was closed last week because of a sewage spill.
Oysters Tasmania spokesman Tom Lewis said the two recalls were a coincidence. “To our knowledge there is no connection,” Dr Lewis said. Barilla Bay Oysters general manager Justin Goc said the company was working closely with the Public Health Director Dr Roscoe Taylor.
“We apologise to the public for inconvenience caused and the public will be informed on developments,” Mr Goc said. The public is asked to dispose of any Barilla Bay Oysters bought from its retail outlet on or before last Sunday or Mures Lower Deck between last Thursday and Saturday. No products from the award-winning oyster company have been sold by Mures Lower Deck since Saturday. Dr Taylor said the Barilla Bay oysters were harvested at lease 113 in Dunalley on the Hobart side of the Denison Canal. He said a survey of the area would be done today in an attempt to find the source of the contamination.
“If people still have Barilla Bay produce in their fridge they should discard it,” he said. People should also not collect and eat wild shellfish.
Why shellfish can become deadly
An adult oyster filters and cleans up to 190 litres of water a day.
They swallow algae, and remove dirt and nitrogen pollution.
Sometimes during the filtering process, bacteria can trigger norovirus which remains in the oyster.
Eating shellfish infected with a norovirus can lead to food poisoning with vomiting, diarrhoea and abdominal pain.
Noroviruses are the most common cause of viral gastroenteritis in humans.
The disease is usually self-limiting and severe illness is rare but it can lead to blood infections of people with compromised immune systems – especially those with chronic liver disease – and can cause severe and life-threatening reactions.
Posted in Food Hygiene, Food Illness, Food Inspections, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology, Food Poisoning, Food Safety, Food Technology, Food Testing, Food Virus, Foodborne Illness, Hygiene, Microbiology, Norovirus, outbreak, Pathogen, Virus, Water
Tagged barilla bay oysters, bay seafoods, climate, environment, public health director, science
The stomach ailment that grounded a group of Scandinavian tourists likely was not a Chicago souvenir, officials said Tuesday.
Seven members of a tour group fell ill Monday night before boarding a Scandinavian Airlines aircraft at O’Hare International Airport and were taken to nearby hospitals around 11 p.m
Later, two other travelers took sick after boarding Flight 944, which led the pilot to require all members of the group to leave the airplane before it departed for Copenhagen, Chicago Fire Department spokesman Larry Langford said.
“The pilot made the decision not to have anyone on the tour on his aircraft as he didn’t want anyone becoming violently ill over the ocean,” Langford said.
The Norwegian tourists numbered about 52 people, authorities said, and were on a bus trip from Memphis. Tenn., to Chicago.
Chicago Department of Public Health investigators are checking with food vendors and others with whom the group came into contact. It’s thought the bug was contracted outside of Chicago, spokesman Brian Richardson said.
The preliminary diagnosis is the norovirus, a contagious virus that can cause vomiting and diarrhea. It’s spread through contaminated food or from contact with infected people and surfaces.
Norovirus is a common cause of gastroenteritis in all ages. Typical infections cause viral shedding periods of days to weeks, but some individuals can shed for months or years. Most norovirus risk models do not include these long-shedding individuals, and may therefore underestimate risk. We reviewed the literature for norovirus-shedding duration data and stratified these data into two distributions: regular shedding (mean 14–16 days) and long shedding (mean 105–136 days). These distributions were used to inform a norovirus transmission model that predicts the impact of long shedders. Our transmission model predicts that this subpopulation increases the outbreak potential (measured by the reproductive number) by 50–80%, the probability of an outbreak by 33%, the severity of transmission (measured by the attack rate) by 20%, and transmission duration by 100%. Characterizing and understanding shedding duration heterogeneity can provide insights into community transmission that can be useful in mitigating norovirus risk.
Posted in Food Hygiene, Food Illness, Food Inspections, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology, Food Poisoning, Food Safety, Food Technology, Food Testing, Food Virus, Foodborne Illness, Hand Washing, Hygiene, Illness, Methods, Microbiology, Norovirus, Pathogen, Research
Tagged cambridge journals, research, science
RASFF – Norovirus (genogroup I and II detected) in oysters from Spain in Norway
RASFF – Norovirus (Norovirus GGI and GGII found in all 4 samples) in chilled oysters (Crassostrea Gigas) from the Netherlands in Denmark
RASFF-Norovirus in chilled clams (Tapes decussatus) from Turkey in Italy
RASFF-Norovirus (GI and GII) in chilled oysters (Cassostrea gigas) from France in Italy
RASFF-Norovirus in chilled clams (Tapus decussatus) from Turkey in Italy
Human norovirus (hNoV), also known as the winter vomiting bug, is one of the most common stomach bugs in the world. The virus is highly contagious, causing vomiting and diarrhea, and the number of affected cases is growing. Currently there is no cure; sufferers have to let the virus run its course for a few days.
The consumption of fresh produce is frequently associated with outbreaks of hNoV but it remains difficult to identify where in the supply chain the virus first enters production.
A new study, published in the International Journal of Food Microbiology investigated whether contaminated water used to dilute pesticides could be a source of hNoV. Farmers use various water sources in the production of fresh fruits and vegetables, including well water and different types of surface water such as river water or lake water — sources which have been found to harbour hNoV.
The Princess Cruise line Ruby Princess has reported a stomach illness outbreak on its latest cruise. The ship had voyage dates of March 3 to March 10, 2013. Symptoms include vomiting and diarrhea. There is no known cause, although the cause of most outbreaks on cruise ships is norovirus. Symptoms of that highly contagious virus include nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, abdominal pain, along with possible headache and low grade fever.
Two hundred sixty six passengers (out of 3,129) and 10 crew (out of 1,189) reportedly became ill during the voyage. The outbreak was communicated to the Vessel Sanitation Program of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on March 10, 2013, so no on board response to the outbreak was conducted.
The Royal Caribbean cruise ship Vision of the Sea has reported an outbreak of norovirus that has sickened at least 105 people, according to the San Francisco Gate. The ship had 1,991 passengers on board and 772 crew members, which means 5.3% of the passengers were sickened.
The ship docked in Port Everglades, Florida on Friday March 7, 2013 and was thoroughly cleaned and sanitized before its next journey. Passengers “responded well to treatment”, according to the company.
Posted in Food Hygiene, Food Illness, Food Inspections, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology, Food Poisoning, Food Safety, Food Technology, Food Testing, Food Virus, Foodborne Illness, Hygiene, Illness, Microbiology, Norovirus, Pathogen, Virus
Tagged caribbean cruise ship, royal caribbean cruise, transportation
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