Category Archives: Norovirus

Research Netherlands – Norovirus Implications-Food

Posted on May 18, 2012 by | Leave a comment

Cambridge Journals

Noroviruses are an important cause of acute gastroenteritis in humans. We incorporated new insights gained over the past decade in an updated estimate of the disease burden of (foodborne) norovirus illness in The Netherlands in 2009. The disease outcomes – non-consulting cases, visiting a general practitioner, hospitalization and mortality – and the foodborne proportion were derived from cohort studies, surveillance data and literature. Age-specific incidence estimates were applied to the population age distribution in The Netherlands in 2009. The general population incidence was 3800/100 000 (95% CI 2670–5460), including 0·4 fatal cases/100 000, resulting in 1622/100 000 (95% CI 966–2650) disability-adjusted life-years in a population of 16·5 million. The updated burden of norovirus is over twofold higher than previously estimated, due in particular to the new insights in case-fatality ratios. Results suggest that the burden of norovirus institutional outbreaks is relatively small compared to the burden of community-acquired norovirus infections.

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Posted in Eurofins Laboratories, Food Hygiene, Food Poisoning, Food Safety, Food Testing, Food Virus, Foodborne Illness, Microbiology, Norovirus

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Scotland – Four Hospital Deaths – Norovirus

Posted on May 15, 2012 by | Leave a comment

BBC News

Four patients being treated for diarrhoea and vomiting at a hospital in the west of Scotland have died.

Two people suffering from the norovirus stomach bug died just before the weekend at the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Paisley.

NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde said there had now been another two deaths. The deaths were caused by underlying medical conditions.

Strict infection control measures have been put in place.

Eight wards at the hospital are not admitting new patients because of the bug.

 

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Posted in Eurofins Laboratories, Food Virus, Microbiology, Norovirus, outbreak, Pathogen

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US – Oyster Norovirus Outbreak – Area 23

Posted on May 13, 2012 by | Leave a comment

Food Poisoning Bulletin

Area 23, a shellfish harvesting zone off the Louisiana coast roughly equal in size to the city of New Orleans, was closed this week after health officials linked a norovirus outbreak to its oysters.

An investigation into the outbreak that sickened 14 people who ate oysters at a Louisiana restaurant determined that the oysters were tainted before they arrived at the restaurant. Health officials issued a recall of the oysters and the temporary closure of Area 23.

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Posted in Eurofins Laboratories, Food Hygiene, Food Illness, Food Inspections, Food Safety, Food Testing, Food Virus, Foodborne Illness, Microbiology, Norovirus, outbreak, Pathogen

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Norovirus Outbreak US Oysters – 14 Sick

Posted on May 9, 2012 by | Leave a comment

Washington Post

NEW ORLEANS — Louisiana health officials say they closed a harvesting area and ordered a recall of oysters taken from there since April 26 after 14 people became ill with norovirus. The closure started Tuesday and was expected to last at least three weeks.

The recall includes shucked, frozen, breaded and processed oysters and those for the half-shell market taken from Area 23 in Terrebonne Parish southwest of New Orleans. Some of the oysters were shipped to Maryland, Texas and Georgia.

Health officials said people became ill after eating oysters from that area at one New Orleans-area restaurant.

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Posted in Eurofins Laboratories, Food Hygiene, Food Illness, Food Inspections, Food Poisoning, Food Safety, Food Safety Alert, Food Virus, Foodborne Illness, Microbiology, Norovirus, outbreak, Pathogen, Recall

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HPA – UK – Campylobacter Still Number 1 in 2011

Posted on May 6, 2012 by | Leave a comment

HPA

Eighty three general outbreaks of foodborne infectious disease in England and Wales were reported in 2011 to the HPA’s electronic Foodborne and Non-foodborne Gastrointestinal Outbreak Surveillance System (eFOSS)[§]. In the previous year there were 63 outbreaks of foodborne diseases (figure 1).

The rise in the number of general outbreaks in 2011 could be due to the continued increase in outbreaks caused by Campylobacter spp (20/83 in 2011; 18/63 in 2010) and a rise in the outbreaks caused by Salmonella spp compared to the previous year (18 in 2011; 8 in 2010).

Outbreaks of campylobacter have increased since 2009 and concurrently campylobacter is now the most frequently implicated causative agent in reported outbreaks representing 24% of all outbreaks [1,2 ]. In 2011, as in preceding years, most campylobacter outbreaks were associated with consumption of undercooked poultry liver pâté or parfait f rom food service establishments [3,4]. Salmonella spp. accounted for 22% of the outbreaks, most of which were caused by an increase in S. Enteritidis non PT 4 (44%, 8/18) or S. Typhimurium (33%, 6/18). The next most frequently identified agents included: norovirus (10%, 8/83), VTEC O157 (10%, 8/83) and Clostridium perfringens (8%, 7/83)

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Posted in Bacteria, Campylobacter, E.coli O157, EHEC, Eurofins Laboratories, Food Illness, Food Poisoning, Food Safety, Food Standards Agency, Foodborne Illness, HPA, Microbiology, Norovirus, outbreak, Pathogen, Research, Salmonella

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UK Boom in Norovirus ‘Free’ Oysters

Posted on April 23, 2012 by | Leave a comment

The Grocer 

Sales of norovirus-free oysters at the Cornish Shellfish Co have grown by 100% since an FSA study in November revealed that three quarters of all UK oysters carried the virus.

Cornish Shellfish has been selling its Cornish Assured shellfish for three years. But sales had grown to 3,500 oysters a week since September, a spokesman told The Grocer.

“Chefs like to serve oysters, but you cannot have customers falling ill, especially in high-profile, prestigious restaurants,” said a spokesman.

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Posted in Eurofins Laboratories, Food Hygiene, Food Safety, Food Virus, Foodborne Illness, Microbiology, Norovirus, Pathogen

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US – Mexican Food – Another Norovirus Outbreak

Posted on April 19, 2012 by | Leave a comment

Food Poisoning Bulletin

Another norovirus outbreak at another Mexican restaurant in Fort Wayne, Indiana has been reported. John Silcox, director of Communications for the Fort Wayne-Allen County Department of Health, confirmed that illness reports from consumers who at at El Azteca Mexican restaurant on State Blvd. were received during the week of April 2, 2012.

Ten complaints have been received about 35 consumers who ate at the restaurant during the potential outbreak timeframe.

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Posted in Eurofins Laboratories, Food Hygiene, Food Illness, Food Inspections, Food Poisoning, Food Safety, Food Testing, Food Virus, Foodborne Illness, Microbiology, Norovirus, outbreak, Pathogen

Wolverhampton Wedding – Norovirus

Posted on April 17, 2012 by | Leave a comment

Express and Star

Fifty guests at a diamond wedding party in Wolverhampton were struck down with Norovirus prompting a city-wide alert to GPs.

The outbreak of the bug occurred after the anniversary party in Tettenhall. Everyone is understood to have now recovered but guests had to answer questions from doctors and the Health Protection Agency.

Wolverhampton City Council said tests of food samples indicated it was a viral infection and nothing to do with the venue itself or caterers.

The Health Protection Agency (HPA), Wolverhampton City Primary Care Trust and the council worked together to establish the cause of the 50 cases of diarrhoea and vomiting and confirmed it was Norovirus.

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Posted in Eurofins Laboratories, Food Hygiene, Food Illness, Food Poisoning, Food Safety, Food Testing, Food Virus, Foodborne Illness, Microbiology, Norovirus, Pathogen

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Indiana – Norovirus Outbreak – 107 Sick

Posted on April 10, 2012 by | Leave a comment

Food Poisoning Bulletin

According to the Fort Wayne-Allen County Department of Health in Indiana, 107 people who ate at Cebolla’s Mexican Grill in Fort Wayne have been sickened by norovirus. The original report in March recorded 20 illnesses.

The restaurant, which is located at 5930 West Jefferson Boulevard in Fort Wayne, Indiana, has been cooperating with the investigation. The restaurant closed back in March for cleaning and disinfecting.

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Posted in Food Illness, Food Inspections, Food Poisoning, Food Safety, Food Safety Alert, Food Testing, Food Virus, Foodborne Illness, Microbiology, Norovirus, outbreak, Pathogen

Norovirus Epidemiology Review

Posted on March 31, 2012 by | Leave a comment

Cambridge Journals Online 

Food Safety Review

Norovirus – a bug that causes gastrointestinal illness – is responsible for 12 percent of all diarrheal disease worldwide and is estimated to cause 218,000 deaths among children under 5 each year. 
 
Now a clearer picture of how this virus spreads and where it originates is being drawn by a review published this week in Epidemiology & Infection.
 
Norovirus is derived from fecal matter, and can infect people via 4 routes: contaminated water, contaminated food, contaminated environmental surfaces or contact with an infected person. 
 
Researchers from Emory University and the University of Michigan looked at 902 Norovirus (NoV) outbreaks documented between 1993 and 2011, finding that most were associated with transmission through food or in a food service setting.
 
 

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Posted in Eurofins Laboratories, Food Hygiene, Food Illness, Food Inspections, Food Poisoning, Food Safety, Food Testing, Food Virus, Foodborne Illness, Microbiology, Norovirus, outbreak, Pathogen, Research