Early Identification of Common-Source Foodborne Virus Outbreaks in Europe

The importance of foodborne viral infections is increasingly recognized. Food handlers can transmit infection during preparation or serving; fruit and vegetables may be contaminated by fecally contaminated water used for growing or washing. And modern practices of the food industry mean that a contaminated food item is not limited to national distribution. International outbreaks do occur, but little data are available about the incidence of such events and the food items associated with the highest risks. We developed a combined research and surveillance program for enteric viruses involving... Mehr ...

Verfasser: Marion Koopmans
Harry Vennema
Herre Heersma
Elisabeth van Strien
Yvonne van Duynhoven
David Brown
Marc Reacher
Ben Lopman
Dokumenttyp: Artikel
Erscheinungsdatum: 2003
Reihe/Periodikum: Emerging Infectious Diseases, Vol 9, Iss 9, Pp 1136-1142 (2003)
Verlag/Hrsg.: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Schlagwörter: outbreaks / foodborne virus / calicivirus / molecular epidemiology / gastroenteritis / the Netherlands / Medicine / R / Infectious and parasitic diseases / RC109-216
Sprache: Englisch
Permalink: https://search.fid-benelux.de/Record/base-27192919
Datenquelle: BASE; Originalkatalog
Powered By: BASE
Link(s) : https://doi.org/10.3201/eid0909.020766

The importance of foodborne viral infections is increasingly recognized. Food handlers can transmit infection during preparation or serving; fruit and vegetables may be contaminated by fecally contaminated water used for growing or washing. And modern practices of the food industry mean that a contaminated food item is not limited to national distribution. International outbreaks do occur, but little data are available about the incidence of such events and the food items associated with the highest risks. We developed a combined research and surveillance program for enteric viruses involving 12 laboratories in 9 European countries. This project aims to gain insight into the epidemiology of enteric viruses in Europe and the role of food in transmission by harmonizing (i.e., assessing the comparability of data through studies of molecular detection techniques) and enhancing epidemiologic surveillance. We describe the setup and preliminary results of our system, which uses a Web-accessible central database to track viruses and provides the foundation for an early warning system of foodborne and other common-source outbreaks.